A Nashville family is raising serious concerns after a 5-year-old kindergartner with autism was mistakenly placed on a school bus and then left wandering alone for nearly an hour on Monday afternoon, reported WSMV 4.
Zontrail Brinson, a nonverbal student at Ida B. Wells Elementary School, was supposed to be picked up by a parent at school dismissal. However, school officials said there was a “tagging error,” and Brinson was placed on a school bus then dropped off several blocks away, alone and unsupervised.
“It’s scary. I wouldn’t want to be alone by myself, especially being nonverbal,” said Rosalind Derrick, Brinson’s grandmother.
She explained that the family only learned of the incident when Brinson’s mother arrived at the school to pick him up and was told he wasn’t there.
Derrick told local news reporters that Brinson was dropped off at the intersection of 7th Street and Howerton, near Meigs Middle School, and began walking down the sidewalk. She said the school bus driver briefly spoke to the child but received no response and allowed him to exit the bus.
“When you didn’t see an adult, you should have just called the school or taken him back to the school,” she advised.
Brinson was eventually located by a police officer at a nearby playground and safely reunited with his family. While thankful unharmed, Derrick said the ordeal is every parent and guardian’s nightmare.
“I’m a praying grandmother. I was just praying and trusting that he would be found and everything would be okay,” she said.
Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) acknowledged the incident and apologized.
“We deeply regret the distress this caused the family and are grateful the student was found safe,” said Sean Braisted, a district spokesperson. “As soon as the school was notified, staff and a school resource officer responded quickly and located the student at a park near his home. The school and transportation teams are reviewing the incident and reinforcing dismissal protocols to help ensure this does not happen again.”
Braisted clarified that as part of MNPS’s onboarding process, all kindergarten students zoned for school bus service receive a transportation tag. In this case, a teacher mistakenly attached a bus tag to Brinson’s backpack, which led to him being placed on a school bus despite the family’s plan for him to be picked up.
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