GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Parents Kerry and Anne Rasmussen now drive their 5-year-old daughter, Mary, to and from school at Kahaluu Elementary School after she was allowed to get off at the wrong school bus stop last month.

School bus supervision
concerns some parents

A Kahaluu girl's brief disappearance
raises issues of responsibility

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

On the afternoon of Feb. 6, Kahaluu resident Anne Rasmussen waited for her 5-year-old daughter, Mary, to get off the school bus near their home on Ahuimanu Road. Several children exited, but there was no sign of Mary.

As the bus drove off, Rasmussen flagged down the driver to find out where her daughter was, she said. The bus driver told her he saw Mary board the bus at Kahaluu Elementary School but was not aware she got off, Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen searched for her daughter with her husband, Kerry, and found her walking along the shoulder of Ahuimanu Road with a friend, about three-quarters of a mile from their home. She had gotten off at a previous stop to play with the friend.

"I was virtually in tears. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life. You don't know where your child is. What are you going to do?" she said.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Anne Rasmussen stood earlier this month at the spot along Ahuimanu Road where her daughter Mary was supposed to be dropped off by the Gomes bus company. Mary was found about three-quarters of a mile from home.

The Rasmussens say they asked school officials to find out what happened so other parents will not have to encounter the same fears. Their request has touched off an issue that has yet to be clearly answered: Who is responsible for public school children aboard a privately run bus?

The couple contacted the principal of Kahaluu Elementary, the Windward District Office of the Department of Education and Gomes School Bus Service Ltd.

According to Lea Albert, complex area superintendent of the Windward District Office, a report of the Feb. 6 incident was filed by the principal of Kahaluu Elementary.

The school and the bus company share the responsibility over the supervision of children who board the school bus, said Albert, noting school bus drivers are conscientious about the students' safety.

"The safety of our children in both the school and district levels is very, very important to us, and the principal did follow through to do everything in our power to ensure that what occurred will not occur again, because we are concerned about their safety," Albert said. "We are just grateful that she's safe."

School Principal Helene Tom said she spoke to officials at Gomes School Bus Service after the Rasmussens notified her about Mary. Tom added she spoke to Anne Rasmussen "to let them know that we did call the bus company and that we are working on a plan so that it doesn't happen again."

School officials are expected to hold a meeting for kindergartners' parents that will include safety rules for their children who take the school bus, Tom said.

"The bus drivers know our children personally. Unfortunately, this was a new student," said Tom, who was told that the bus driver that day was a substitute driver.

But, she added, parents need to ensure their children are aware of school bus procedures to prevent a recurrence.

Though acting student transportation services manager Cynthia Kawachi noted that a student gets off at another bus stop "very rarely," she anticipates it will occur in the future.

"Parents make arrangements, students make choices and we have no control over that," Kawachi said. "They (bus drivers) don't have authority to prevent a child from getting off (the bus)," she said.

According to the passenger safety code of school buses, "students shall not leave the bus at other than their regular bus stops unless proper authorization has been given in advance by the school principal."

Lee Gomes, manager of Gomes School Bus Service, said parents need to "take the initiative to ensure that their child is informed enough and ready enough to do their (bus) trips, to do this on their own.

"Before you let your child do anything, go over with them what's expected," Gomes said.

The Rasmussens moved to Hawaii from Oregon in December. Anne Rasmussen said her daughter, a kindergartner at Kahaluu Elementary, caught the bus for more than a week. The couple, who now drive Mary to and from school, punished their daughter for getting off the bus at her friend's stop.