Ignored 7 year old charter student left alone on cold bus; yelled for help in six foreign languages

[doeriver]

Overlooked student spends day aboard bus
Charter school driver fired
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091204/NEWS04/912040370/1001/NLETTER01?source=nletter-news
BY JAIME SARRIO • THE TENNESSEAN • DECEMBER 4, 2009

Idealla Woodard knew something was weird when her 7-year-old son came home with a hot dog.



Second-grader Semaj got off the bus at the usual time, 5:30 p.m. But on this Monday evening, the Nashville Global Academy student walked in the door with a hot dog wrapped in aluminum foil.

When Woodard asked where he got it, he told her it was for falling asleep on the bus. Confused, she called the school for more details and learned Semaj fell asleep on the way to school that morning and was left on the bus all day long.

"They brought him home as if nothing happened," Woodard said. "He never once got off the bus."

Woodward said her son woke up on the cold bus scared and cried for a while before he saw a man smoking cigarettes. The little boy said he tried to get the man's attention, but couldn't. He waited until the bus driver came back on the bus, which was parked at her home. The driver discovered the boy, then went inside, got him a hot dog and told him not to tell, according to Woodard.

http://www.nashvilleglobalacademy.org/current_job_openings.htm">Officials from Nashville Global Academy, a charter school that opened this year for kindergarten through the third grade, said the bus driver and monitor involved were fired Tuesday. Principal Edwina Harris Hamby said she would not release the names of the workers before consulting attorneys.

Safeguard Broke Down

Hamby said bus drivers are responsible for marking a form when a child gets on and off the bus, and they must walk the aisle to make sure no students are sleeping. The form is supposed to be turned in to school officials, but in this case it was not.

"The procedures are in place, and if they are followed these things don't happen," she said.

The charter school was put on probation earlier this year for having transportation issues and for opening a fourth grade when it had not been approved to do so.

Also, the academy didn't have enough bus drivers on the first day of classes, meaning routes took too long to run.

(more at above hyperlink)

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Home (Nashville Global Academy)
http://www.nashvilleglobalacademy.org/index.htm

The Nashville Global Academy is a FREE PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL that focuses on the development of the whole child, addressing academic, social, physical, emotional and cultural needs. Using the well known Core Knowledge curricular framework coupled with the appropriate International Baccalaureate Organization's Primary and Middle Years Programmes, the Academy will incorporate a global focus to expose and develop students. The Nashville Global Academy intends to become a certified Core Knowledge school, as well as to attain status as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School with approved Primary Years and Middle Years Programmes .

Nashville Global Academy offers

Free Transportation to and from the facility
Saturday Classes (twice a month)
Great location - safe, secluded, and spacious
Domestic and international travel experiences
Students will learn multiple languages- Latin, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, French and/or Arabic

Hmmm...please reply here if you can translate the following phrase - "Help! I am freezing - get me off of this bus!" - into these foreign languages:

Latin (technically, a classic or "dead" language);
Spanish;
Japanese;
Mandarin Chinese;
French, and;
Arabic.