WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The wheels on the bus go round and round. However, for one child in Houston County, the wheels didn't go quite where he thought.
Laquinta Williams is a parent to 9-year-old Ziden Towles.
"Two o'clock I got a call saying that my son was dropped off in the wrong neighborhood," Williams said.
On June 4, Ziden took the bus home after a day of summer learning at Pearl Stephens Elementary in Warner Robins.
Williams was working at the time and expected her son to get home safe and sound. But when she heard he was dropped off in another neighborhood, she called the school and filed a police report.
"I'm a concerned momma," Williams said. "We are all we got. When you don't know about the location of a child, you're supposed to contact the school, you're supposed to take that child back to that schoolhouse and contact that parent. I was never notified when it came down to my son. What are you paying these people for? Are you paying these people to take care of our children or just to drop them off anywhere? I'm hurt, I'm scared and I want something done."
The report also states her child has asthma, and Williams had to tell her child to walk ten minutes to his aunt's house and wait.
Williams said she wasn't satisfied with the school's response.
"They try to make it feel like it was a mistake when it wasn't a mistake," Williams said. "I told them where my son needed to be dropped off. How did he wind up on the other bus? I don't care if it was red, yellow, green, blue — they should be held accountable."
After talking to the Houston County School District, they sent a response saying;
"Due to federal privacy laws, we are unable to discuss student matters in detail; however, we can provide this statement. Upon learning about this incident, the district took swift action to begin an investigation. Several administrators, including an assistant superintendent, staff from the school, and officials from the transportation department, were in communication with the family to apologize for the incident and to assure the parent this would not happen again. We have reviewed our safety protocols with our drivers and school staff to ensure safe and reliable transportation for our students. The safety and well-being of students will always be our number one priority."
At the end of the day, Williams said Ziden was scared and she was concerned for her child's safety.
Once summer school is over, she said she plans to return back to normal and drive her kids to school herself.
"I pick you up and drop you off the same way that bus drives, I can do the same thing and I can know you're getting picked up safe and you're getting dropped off safe at all times," Williams said.