BAKERSFIELD - Changes have been implemented by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools after an autistic boy was left on a school bus alone for hours in 100 degree heat.
Kern County schools have 60 buses dedicated to transporting about 800 special needs children to and from school.
On one of those basses last week, an eight-year-old boy with autism was left there for six hours.
The district says he was missed by a substitute driver.
We spoke with the boy's mother last week.
"He was helpless. My son is eight years old and he's autistic. He can't help for himself. He can't speak for himself. Those bus drivers, the school, the staff, they are responsible for him," said Claudia Lepe on September 10th.
As a result, Kern County schools have implemented a new system to account for special child riders, like ordering custom flags to place in the back window.
"So, it will be somewhere here in the back window. It will be lifted when they complete the pre-trip inspection, leaving the yard, and lowered once the post-trip inspection is complete. And, you will be able to see that from the outside as a double check," explained Sheryl Boe, Director of Transportation for Kern County schools.
They also write the names of students on the windows as an informal seating chart to ensure what happened to Claudia Lepe's son, does not happen again.
Kern County schools have 60 buses dedicated to transporting about 800 special needs children to and from school.
On one of those basses last week, an eight-year-old boy with autism was left there for six hours.
The district says he was missed by a substitute driver.
We spoke with the boy's mother last week.
"He was helpless. My son is eight years old and he's autistic. He can't help for himself. He can't speak for himself. Those bus drivers, the school, the staff, they are responsible for him," said Claudia Lepe on September 10th.
As a result, Kern County schools have implemented a new system to account for special child riders, like ordering custom flags to place in the back window.
"So, it will be somewhere here in the back window. It will be lifted when they complete the pre-trip inspection, leaving the yard, and lowered once the post-trip inspection is complete. And, you will be able to see that from the outside as a double check," explained Sheryl Boe, Director of Transportation for Kern County schools.
They also write the names of students on the windows as an informal seating chart to ensure what happened to Claudia Lepe's son, does not happen again.