ATLANTA,None — Parents of a group of Atlanta Public Schools students were upset after, they say, a frustrated school bus driver driver told their children to get off on a busy road and walk home at night.
Inayah Akbar and two other students were the only ones left on the bus Monday evening after their after-school program at Ralph Bunche Middle School. The 12-year-old told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri the driver was frustrated because she kept getting lost and pulled over on Campbellton Road and ordered the kids off the bus.
"She said, 'Get off my bus. I have other things to do and I'm trying to get home,'" Akbar said.
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Her father, Michael Richard, was waiting for her at her bus stop and when Akbar did not show up, he became worried and went to the school. He said he found her after 8 p.m. walking down Barge Road alone.
Randy Smith's 11-year-old daughter, Ja-koia Allen, was also on the bus. She crossed four lanes of traffic to go toward her home, a mile away.
"It's cold. She didn't have no jacket. It's raining. It's dark. You don't know where you're at. That's kind of all the bad elements you don't want your child to be in," Smith said.
APS Spokesperson Keith Bromery said the district is following up on the incident. The school principal rode with the bus driver Wednesday evening and said she noticed she was unfamiliar with some of the bus routes. Bromery said it is unacceptable for a driver to drop a child anywhere other than the designated bus stop.