Nursery school head may face charge over boy's death in bus

Sad tragedy product of deep negligence. People become sloppy when things go smoothly, that is why it is so important to have strict protocols and follow them to the letter. They may seem useless or exaggerated on a daily basis, but they do help preventing deaths.

Virusrex is correct in that this is why checklists and the like are used. The act of placing a tick on a piece of paper may seem redundant if the task has been done, but we are all human and humans make simple mistakes. Systems should be designed to stop big mistakes from being made.

It should go without saying, but an upset child (singular) should not be enough to disrupt a kindergarden. It suggests the place is disorganised and/or understaffed.

It is ridiculous that they didn’t realize later.

I can understand a missing 5 year old for a few seconds, but after a minute or two, as a teacher you are not doing your job.

And an hour later??? When all the children are elsewhere doing other things? The boy was still alive then, but it took 9 hours to realize he was missing?

That is criminally negligent.

Failuresa on all fronts, it sure looks like this school was poorly managed with no protocols what so ever.

RIP little angle, every time a child is lost due to an adult mishap or negligent it is a real heartbreaker.

I am not sure if all schools do this but my kids' kindergarten teachers does a roll call once school starts. If someone is not present and haven't called in, they call the parents to make sure things are ok. It wouldn't take 9 hours to do that.

Nursing school head may face charge over boy's death in bus

Why wouldn't she?

NOMINATIONToday  09:30 am JST

I am not sure if all schools do this but my kids' kindergarten teachers does a roll call once school starts. If someone is not present and haven't called in, they call the parents to make sure things are ok. It wouldn't take 9 hours to do that.

That only makes sense. A bus driver has the route, knows where the kids are and where they live and where to pick them up. And where to drop them off. That's how it was when I went to school, the drivers were held responsible to all these things.

This is a jailable offense.

Count them several times a day , that’s what had been done when I once was in that kindergarten age, or nowadays, if you cannot count so good anymore because you learned more of the unnecessary stuff at school, equip them and let them pass those cheap RFID chip reading systems, for example. You get information about their whereabouts or absence in real-time displayed on your computer or phone screen, not nine hours later and too late.

Usually in nursery, kindergarten and early elementary school grades, students are paired with another to ensure that they account for each other. That is the same when going to the pool and other outdoor activities. Unfortunately, a very sad situation for the boy and his family.

All nursery schools and kindergartens with buses should have a process in place that makes this impossible. The best way is to have an additional teacher sitting in the bus when it does its rounds. That is what my daughter’s kindergarten does and it ensures that something like this can’t happen since the extra teacher remains on the bus until everyone is confirmed to be off.

It is probably a small kindergarten if the Head Mistress / Owner is doing the pickups.

Yes she failed in her duties to ensure all the kids were of the bus.

RIP little angle, every time a child is lost due to an adult mishap or negligent it is a real heartbreaker.

Don't believe that all kids are all lovely I have met a few that are dreadful and do everything in their power to be as annoying as possible.

From the article we do not know why the 5 year old didn't get off the bus was he sleeping? or was he trying to be funny and hiding?

I guess we will never know RIP little one.

Both she and the driver should be charged with negligence. Alas that does not bring back the boy.

A school administrator doing double duty as a bus driver is a recipe for disaster.

The administrator most likely has many other details on her mind, driving a bus must seem like a menial task, once completed it is time to get on with running the school.

Best to leave student transportation to contracted, professional drivers who are also tasked with ensuring each student boards and exits the vehicle safely.

How long would it take a bus driver to go to the back of the bus and undertake a visual sweep? 1: to check for left bags, luggage 2: check for kids hiding and not wanting to go into school, 3: damage. ( vomit and litter etc)

on these busses is there a emergance exit? what about windows? my car get hot in the direct sunshine, although it can be 30 odd degrees outside, the temp inside is a lot, lot more, sometimes i will leave the door open for 5 minutes until the heat dissipates, then get in, but for a small kid to be stuck inside a bus for 8-9-10 hour's, poor mite.

The accident came to light as the boy's mother called the nursery school to report him missing, prompting school staff to locate the boy in the bus.

Why was she calling the school? Wasn't he supposed to be at school?

And did he fall asleep in the bus?

Reading this makes me physically ill.

We’re going to see more of these vehicle deaths, both kids and animals, with Global warming, the rescue time gets less, wish you guys would get back onto Nuclear, instead of importing so much Australian coal

8th paragraph in the article, for those commenting on the class teacher's actions, or lack thereof:

A teacher in charge of the boy told city officials that she was aware of his absence, but did not contact his mother.

Everyone always jumps ahead and starts blaming and pointing fingers. As a former kindergarten teacher I can only speculate that the principal only did that job to avoid paying another driver. A case of saving money to pay herself more or bring in more money to the institution. Now they (the principal and the home room teacher) are faced with possible criminal charges. That will end up in bankruptcy and loss of teaching licenses for both. It's ashamed that this had to happen but it did. Its human error at its worst. I can only offer prayers to all involved.

Heartbreaking. I really feel for the family.

The owner was the driver with no staff on board.

either she was charging too little for tuition or she was too cheap to hire workers.

either way, the kid is never coming back, and I’m sure her business will take a dive from now on, regardless of what the charges will be.

rest well, little one. You will be missed terribly by your family.

shogun36

The owner was the driver with no staff on board.

Yes, I get that now. Absolutely inexcusable, she should never be allowed to be responsible for the safety of children again.

That school should not be allowed to have any children. Such a chain of negligence is simply inexplicable.

They should be shut down. These people are a hazard without an idea of what Duty of Care is.

@Matt Bourdein

the principal only did that job to avoid paying another driver. A case of saving money to pay herself more or bring in more money to the institution

Tell that the the mom of that boy. No matter if she was trying to save the institution by neglecting small human lives that she "contractually promised" to protect, is terrible and shows a clear lack of forethought. She should not be picking up kids only by herself in the first place.

When I was in school, our buses has a mirror installed at the very back of the bus that would allow the driver to see even the last row of seats clearly without even having to go all the way back. Is that not something they put in Japanese school buses or are they designed differently?