A Mississippi school bus driver faces disciplinary action after being accused of refusing to allow the children on board to leave.
A video obtained by WREG-TV shows Center Hill Elementary School students poking their heads out the window and screaming to get off the bus. A fifth grader’s parent, identified as Misty Grubbs, recorded the incident on Facebook Live, which appears to have been deleted. The news station posted the footage on Aug. 31. It was also shared on the TikTok page, Southern Grit.
It happened in Olive Branch, Mississippi, as the driver took the children home from school.
“This woman has got my child locked on this bus and will not let them off,” Grubbs said before walking toward the bus door and telling the driver to open it. “That’s my child! You lost your mind!”
At one point in the video, some parents could be seen trying to get their children through the window. Grubbs told the news station that the children were inside the bus for about 40 minutes.
According to DeSoto County News, the driver stopped the bus because a student did not want to hand in their cellphone. As the outlet reported, people on social media pointed out that rules state that using electronic devices on the bus is not allowed.
The unidentified driver, who was a substitute, was placed on leave, per reports, and a new person will take over the route for the school year.
“Per district procedure, the bus driver is on administrative leave as the matter is being reviewed,” DeSoto County Schools said in a statement, as WMC reported.
Parents slammed the driver for holding the children on the bus on a hot day.
“You just want your kids to be safe,” Anna Marie Tyler said, per WREG-TV. “They were celebrating and got to wear pajamas, so they were on that hot bus in their fleece pajamas.”
