Beaver family concerned little boy was put on wrong school bus

BEAVER, Pa. — As a parent, the worst call you may get would be a school administrator telling you that they cannot locate your six-year-old son.

“To hear they don’t know where he is then where is he then? The worst things run through your mind,” said Justin Tesch.

Tesch is still shaken a day after his six-year-old son Chase never got off the school bus. Chase’s mom Erin Houk feels the same way.

When he didn’t get off the school bus, it prompted a sweep of College Square Elementary School and the other school buses to locate the missing boy.

“Chase he’s just so trusting, he will go with anyone he’s just too trusting,” Houk said.

Houk told Channel 11 it was about ten minutes later when she got another call stating Chase was located on the wrong bus then an hour later before he was dropped back off at their house. As the minutes ticked by, the worry began to build.

“I’m thinking what if I never see him again, I got things and even my older son is out there waiting with us pacing,” Houk said.

Beaver Area Superintendent Carrie Rowe told Channel 11 there is a protocol in place for these situations.

“This entails all busses throughout the district pulling to the side of the road as soon as it is safe to do so and having each bus monitor initiate a cross-check of student ID tags. At the same time, the originating school building’s staff is notified, and a cross-check of afterschool activity lists is initiated while other staff members check the buildings and grounds. If the student were not located at the conclusion of these processes, then the police would be notified,” Rowe said.

Rowe said that system helped to locate Chase quickly, but these parents feel he never should have been capable of getting on another bus.

“I would just think more people more chaperons, more help because I thought maybe should be walking with them more. They have a tag on the back of their backpack with their name and bus number and so I was just like how they missed him,” Houk said.

In a school with such young kids, Channel 11 asked Rowe if that was even an option to have more supervision when loading the buses.

“This unusual instance of an elementary student boarding the wrong bus gives us an opportunity to celebrate the fact that our protocol quickly brought the situation to a safe conclusion. At the same time, we also want to be reflective about any disruptions to our daily operations that could have led to the student board the wrong bus in the first place,” Rowe said.

All in all, each party is glad that Chase was located quickly and made it home safely. But Houk and Tesch hope to see some changes in the future.

Winter is coming! Here's how Butler PennDOT crews are getting ready