Monday Emma had an awesome day at school. She loves her teacher, made friends with one of the girls in her class, and even made friends with some of the older girls on the playground. Of course Monday Dave and I took her to school and I picked her up because I had taken the day off. When I picked her up Miss Goldman made she she understood correctly and from here on out Emma would be riding Bus # 37 to Glendening for EDP (otherwise known as Latchkey, or after school care).
Today Dave got Emma up, feed her breakfast, made sure she brushed her teeth, got her dressed, and made sure she fixed her hair then he took her to school. I called an talked to her before they left and made sure she knew to get on the bus to go to Glendening and she even remembered that her bus was Purple 37 (they give the buses different color to help the younger kids).
At 4 o'clock today as I was getting on the elevator to leave work my phone rang and it was an 836 number which i knew to be a Groveport # but I didn't recognize it. Usually I don't answer numbers I don't know but something told me to answer this one. It's a good thing because it was EDP asking if Emma was supposed to start today. When I told them yes they informed me that the bus had come and gone and Emma wasn't there. At this point panic hit and it took everything I had not to cry. I told them I hadn't heard from her school and both her teacher and Emma knew she was to get on the bus but I would call the school and see what I could find out.
So I called the school and explained to the secretary what was going on. She placed me on hold to check with Emma's teacher to see if Emma was placed on the bus which she was. It was even harder then to not cry but I kept the tears in and asked what I needed to do next to find my daughter. The Secretary gave me the number to the bus companies garage and told me to call them.
I called the bus garage and explained to them how my daughter was placed on the bus but never made it to EDP and that women placed me on hold while she contacted Emma's bus. What seemed like and hour later, probably less than a minute, the lady came back and said Emma was still on the bus and didn't get off at her stop so they were going to turn around and take her back. Of course I was super relieved to know Emma was safe but then I got a little angry that this happen. I asked the women at tha garage if the bus drivers were supposed to make sure the kids got off at the right stops and she told me no. This was very surprising to me and I expressed that to the women. I explained to her that Emma was a Kindergartner and this was her first day on the bus so how was she supposed to know when to get off and it just didn't make sense to me that no one was checking this. the women's response to me was "didn't I know an older kid that got off at the same stop who could make sure Emma got off". Of course this just flat pissed me off and I told the lady that no I did not know any older kids because Emma was my oldest and it was her first day. The women then suggested that I put a tag on Emma saying Glendening so they would know when she was supposed to get off to which I responded with well if I do that will the driver check all the kids on the bus after each stop to make sure they got off because you just told me they don't check and Emma does have a huge kite shaped sign on her bookbag that says Glendening. The women didn't know how to respond to that and just said well that's the best I can do.
After I got off the phone with her I called Emmas school and EDP to let them know what had happen. When Emma arrived at EDP they called to let me know she was fine and there. When I picked Emma up tonight the EDP teachers told me that since the bus driver wasn't checking they would go out to the bus to make sure Emma got off until she was comfortable with it. They also said it was strange that the driver wasn't checking that this year since they have such little ones on the bus.
I feel much better know knowing the teachers will check but it really was not a good way to start the year. Hopefully things only get better from here on out!
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