DECATUR — A new policy at Decatur schools will require parents to sign pre-kindergarten students on and off the school bus as a safety precaution, following an incident in which a three-year-old student was dropped off at the wrong bus stop last week.

The incident has also prompted superintendent Larry Ben to consider whether or not the district should provide transportation for pre-kindergarten students, a decision he plans to take before the new school board in October.

Decatur is the only school in the area that provides transportation for pre-kindergarten students, said transportation department director Sherman Robinson.

On Aug. 23, the three-year-old girl got off the bus with several other students at the bus stop directly before her stop and wandered the wrong way down the street, said Robinson. The girl’s parents, Shane and Bobbi Barnes, estimated she was alone for 20 to 30 minutes before she was found by mail carrier A.L. Austin and returned to Northside Elementary School.

Up until the girl was lost, school bus drivers signed a sheet of paper when pre-kindergarten students boarded the bus in the morning and turned it into teachers when they reached the school, according to transportation department secretary Patsy Wilkins. In the afternoon, teachers gave the paper back to drivers and it was signed again when the students got off the bus.

Under the new system, only the parent, another adult authorized by the parent, or a sibling in the sixth grade or older will beallowed to sign the child on and off the bus. If there isn’t anyone to meet the child, they will be taken back to the Northside Elementary School until a parent or guardian can be contacted, Robinson said.

The new procedure is in compliance with the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Childcare and Early Childhood Education, Ben said.

Pre-kindergarten students who ride the bus will also be appointed a buddy in sixth grade or higher, according to Leslie Sharp, the director of Decatur’s pre-kindergarten program and principal of the Northside Elementary School.

Pre-kindergartenstudents sit in the front of the bus, and the buddy will be responsible for sitting with the student and making sure they get off the bus at the correct stop, Sharp said.

The bus was at full capacity, with 78 students onboard, when the incident happened, Wilkins said. Robinson also pointed out it was the third day of school and the driver was on a new and unfamiliar route. The driver is a grandparent and feels terrible about letting the child off at the wrong stop, Robinson said.

“It’s one of those things that just happened. We wish it didn’t, but now we have a system in place so it won’t happen again,” he said.

News, Pages 1 on 09/01/2010