Families complain children dropped off miles from home by Wayne County bus drivers

In January, WRAL News brought you the story of a 5-year-old girl in Goldsboro, who was dropped off at the wrong school bus stop, miles from home.

Now another family says the same happened to their daughter two years earlier -- and the district said it had fixed the issue.

At their home in La Grange, Robert and Christy Douglass have sent five children through Wayne County schools, and riding the bus home was always a milestone.

In October 2019, it was their daughter Maddy’s turn.

"First time ever riding the school bus. She was very excited," said Christy.

After dropping the 7-year-old off at Eastern Wayne Elementary School that morning, they waited that afternoon for the school bus that would bring her home for the first time.

But as the hours passed, there was no sign of Maddy.

"She never showed up, never came home from school that afternoon," said Christy.

When they finally called the school, officials said she was still there. However, the family says the school didn't explain why Maddy was there or why no one had called her parents.

On their drive home, Maddy told them what happened.

"She told her dad that the school bus dropped her off at the wrong house, and she had told the bus driver, 'But I don’t live here.' And the bus driver just told her, 'Well, somebody will pick you up.' They made her get off, closed the door and drove off," said Christy.

Maddy told her parents a strange woman had seen her crying by the side of the road and given her a ride back to the school.

"When you hear your child say, 'I was crying and I thought I was going to have to stand there all day and all night,' those are hard words to hear," say her parents.

In a statement, the Wayne County School District says because the Douglass family’s address was incorrect in their online records, Maddy was placed on the wrong bus.

However, her family argues that doesn’t explain why the driver told her to get off, as the district also says when a child claims they’re on the wrong bus, their policy is to bring that child back to their school.

The district says after the incident with Maddy, they changed their policy in 2019 to prevent children from getting on the bus without having an approved address on file.

But more than two years later, 5-year-old Zahara Seaberry was put on the wrong bus in Goldsboro and dropped miles away from her home, and eventually picked up by a stranger.

The Douglass family is now calling on Wayne County schools to fix its bussing system, or they plan on holding the district accountable.

"To the fullest extent of the law. This kind of putting our children in this kind of danger, there’s no excuse for it," says Robert.