CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Students at Clear Sky Elementary School in Castle Rock said their bus driver abandoned them on their way home Monday afternoon. Now, parents are demanding answers and video evidence of what happened on the bus leading up to the incident.
First, the students said, the bus driver wouldn't leave the parking lot until the kids stopped talking. Then, what was supposed to be their trip home got even worse.
“We got on the bus and there was a substitute,” said Caitlyn Zavadil, a 10-year-old student at Clear Sky. “He wouldn’t let us leave the school until we stopped talking.”
The students said they left school later than they normally do.
“He finally left, and he was skipping all the kids' stops, and when I say all the kids, I mean all the kids,” Caitlyn said. “And we felt like when he was driving and missing our stops, like we were getting kidnapped.”
The kids said their bus driver ended up two miles away from the school near the corner of East Wolfensberger Road and Auburn Drive, with a bus full of about 40 kids.
"He stopped like right here at this intersection, like about right here, and said 'everybody get off my bus,'” Caitlyn said. “And then everybody was like stressing, like crying.”
They said it was around 5 p.m., getting dark and cold.
“And then we forgot our jackets on the bus out of stress. Yeah, we were shivering,” Caitlyn and her sister, Keira Schmidt, said.
“I felt like I was never going to get home,” Keira said.
“Me and my little sister, we live like two miles away from here, so we had like no idea what to do,” Caitlyn said.
A stranger offered the girls a ride and helped them call their mom, Ashley Stark.
“I was absolutely petrified, and for a stranger to call me and tell me that she had my children in the car and they were crying and screaming, and bright red and frozen,” Stark said.
She said it’s not something she can just let go.
“This wasn’t an honest mistake or a slip-up. There were a lot of ways the driver could have handled this,” Stark said.
Wednesday, the Douglas County School District followed up via email with the families of students who ride the bus.
"I want to sincerely express my deepest apologies for the unsettling experience your children endured on Monday afternoon," Rich Cosgrove, the district's chief operations officer, said in the email. "Through our investigation, we have gained a better understanding of what occurred and feel it is important to share the details we can confirm with you."
"On Monday, a relief driver was covering route #253," the email continued. "Relief drivers are full-time employees who step in as needed across our 850 square mile district. Your child’s route consists of 12 stops. On the third stop on Monday afternoon, the bus stopped just short of the usual location, leading to some confusion. At that time, the remaining 40 students on the bus all exited, with many getting off at the wrong bus stop."
"Regrettably, the driver did not follow protocol when this happened," the letter said. "The driver should have immediately notified DCSD transportation dispatch."
According to the letter, the driver is no longer employed by the school district.
"I have also learned that some of you wish to view the video footage from your child’s bus on Monday," the email said. "At this time, there is an active investigation with the Castle Rock Police Department and we are unable to share the video."
The bus driver, Irving Johnson, apologized for the incident on Wednesday after he was fired.
"Oh I would just like to apologize. I am sorry. I wish I had done better," Johnson said. "I should have stopped and shut the bus, and talked to the parents, and gotten in their heads to get the kids back on the bus who had gotten off. And I didn’t think to do that, and that was my fault, and that’s why I got terminated. That’s what they told me."
Stark said Tuesday that parents won't stop asking questions until they get to the bottom of what happened on the bus ride.
“It’s just unfathomable and I think there needs to be some accountability on the Department of Transportation,” Stark said.
“It was super, super scary,” Keira said.