Ohio Parents Sue School District After 6-Year-Old Left on Bus for Hours

February 20, 2025

The family of a 6-year-old student who was left inside a Reynoldsburg City Schools bus for hours filed a lawsuit claiming the school district failed to investigate the incident appropriately, reported The Columbus Dispatch.

The incident took place last year, when the nonverbal boy was left unattended and secured in a child safety restraint system on a school bus seat for hours.

According to the news report, the lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, and it alleges that the district violated the child’s right to an education by putting him in danger, as well as treating his family differently because they are non-native English speakers from Nepal.

The parents of the child reportedly filed the lawsuit as John and Jane Doe to protect their child’s identity.

The lawsuit reportedly claims the boy’s mother put the then 6-year-old boy on his regular school bus on Feb. 16, 2023, to attend afternoon preschool classes. The boy was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and received special education services through Reynoldsburg City Schools.

Because of his specific needs, the boy would reportedly be secured in a harness on the school bus.

The lawsuit claims the boy did not return home from preschool that day at the regular time. The father tried calling both the school district and the bus garage but no one answered. He proceeded to the preschool but was told there were no children left in the building. That’s when the parents called the police and reported their son missing.

Court records reportedly indicate police found the child on a school bus at the district’s bus garage. The bus had reportedly brought the boy to his street but dropped him at a neighbor’s home. The preschool had marked the boy as absent from school on that day. However, the boy’s parents do not know where the boy was for the approximately five hours he was unaccounted for and believe he may have been left on the school bus harnessed inside his seat. The exact events of that day remain unclear.

According to the lawsuit, the boy’s parents met with district officials and requested through an interpreter to view the video from the school bus. The lawsuit alleges that the request was passed around the school district for about three weeks, at which time the video had been recorded over and was no longer available.

Administrators reportedly told the boy’s parents via an interpreter that the district had conducted and completed a full investigation, yet no documentation was provided to the parents. The district also allegedly told the interpreter, to stop communicating with the parents. The district told local news reporters through a spokesperson that it is unable to comment on pending litigation.