Bus driver fired after leaving special needs teen on bus for 5 hours

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Linda Daniels (left) stands with her granddaughter Alexis Robinson, 19, outside their home in Country Club Hills Thursday, August 18, 2011. Alexis, who has Down's Syndrome, was left on a school bus for 5 hours after being picked up on the first day of school. | Brett Roseman~Sun-Times Media

Updated: November 16, 2011 1:25AM

The driver who left a special education student on a school bus for five hours has been fired, the Alpha School Bus Co. said Friday.

The driver’s dismissal was “expected,” said Linda Daniels, grandmother and guardian of the student. “That is as it should be.”

Caprice Sanfratello, regional manager of the bus company, said in a statement the company “deeply regrets the incident.”

Alexis Robinson, a 19-year-old from Country Club Hills with Down syndrome, was to attend a transition program with the Southwest Cook County Cooperative Association for Special Education in Orland Park.

Daniels said Robinson got on the bus at 7:39 a.m. but must have fallen asleep and did not get off the bus when it arrived at school at 8:23 a.m. She was one of nine students on the small bus and sat in the second seat, her grandmother said.

Daniels said the bus was parked at the company’s Crestwood bus barn until 1:30 p.m. when the driver returned for the afternoon route.

The driver was en route back to the school when bus company officials called the driver inquiring about Robinson, Daniels said. It was then that the driver discovered her. She was not injured.

Daniels wants to see some “checks and balances” built into the system so that all students are accounted for by drivers and school officials as they get on and off the bus. State law already requires drivers to check their buses when they complete a route.

Gineen O’Neil, executive director of the special education program, said the school is reviewing its procedures.

Crestwood police said Friday their investigation is continuing. Sanfratello said the bus company is cooperating with police.