Officials eye why Utah 7-year-old kicked off bus

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kya Hobdy wanted to ride a school bus to her friend's home for an arranged play date. But a mile from school, the 7-year-old was ordered off the bus and left in tears in an unfa­mil­iar neighborhood.

The Alpine School Dis­trict said Wednes­day the bus dri­ver who booted the girl off the bus was on admin­is­tra­tive leave pend­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion into what offi­cials called a vio­la­tion of procedure.

"I was dumb­founded," the girl's mother, Amber Hobdy, told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City. "Why would any­one do that? Why would any­one drop off a 7-year-old?"

The girl used her cell phone to arrange a pickup by her mother at a church she was able to rec­og­nize a mile from their home. She nor­mally walks to and from school in Eagle Moun­tain, a town about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.

The school dis­trict refused to iden­tify the dri­ver, and there was no answer when The Asso­ci­ated Press called a phone list­ing for the girl's parents.

The driver's first mis­take was fail­ing to keep Kya Hobdy from board­ing the bus on Fri­day with­out a per­mis­sion slip from her par­ents, dis­trict spokes­woman Rhonda Brom­ley told the AP.

The dri­ver didn't notice the unfa­mil­iar pas­sen­ger until halfway through her route, then tried using the girl's cell phone to con­tact her mother but got only voice­mail, Brom­ley said.

That's when the bus dri­ver made what offi­cials called her biggest mistake.

"The bus dri­ver did tell her she needed to get off the bus, which should not have hap­pened. Obvi­ously, safety is top pri­or­ity," Brom­ley said. "The dri­ver should have taken her back to school … We're glad she had a cell phone and was able to describe her sur­round­ings to her mother."

The bus dri­ver has been relieved of her duties and could face dis­ci­pli­nary action rang­ing from pro­ba­tion to fir­ing, Brom­ley said.

"Obvi­ously, she had no idea this would become a media frenzy," Brom­ley said of the girl's mother. "She just wants to make sure some­thing like this doesn't hap­pen again. She has a right to be con­cerned and upset with what hap­pened with her daughter."

Posted by Scott Mahoney on Jun 1 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.