A Charlotte County family said they experienced a frightening start to the school year when their daughter was placed on the wrong school bus.
The incident occurred at East Elementary School in Punta Gorda, and WINK News was at the scene to gather details.
Andrea Welsh, the mother of the child, expressed her panic.
"I was in total panic that my daughter, my youngest, four years old, was not on the bus," said Welsh.
Welsh recounted waiting at the bus stop only to find that one of her daughters did not get off the bus after their first day of school.
"When I was waiting at the bus stop, one of my children wasn't on the bus. My oldest kept telling the bus driver that her little sister wasn't on the bus, but he did not believe her. He acted like it was no concern," said Welsh.
Emma Welsh, the six-year-old sister, immediately sensed something was wrong.
"I said, ‘Where's my little sister?’ I've been waiting a lot," said Emma. "I thought something happened to her.”
The school district explained that the four-year-old ended up on the wrong bus because of a mistake in the badge scanning system used to track students and assign their bus routes.
"They're relying on the technology too much and not making sure they're on the right bus," said Welsh.
Welsh expressed her frustration that no one at the school noticed the mix-up.
"The school should have been more concerned and more aware of their students being put on the bus, especially little kindergarteners," said Welsh.
Eventually, the school located the little girl and brought her back to the school, where she was reunited with her mother.
"I was so distraught yesterday. I was trying to keep myself in check to ensure everything went fine, and nothing was fine," said Welsh.