My child is left behind on a school trip

Hi maximax I would be so disgusted if this happened to me.....I can't imangine what you and your son are going through this is just plain irresponsible of the school.....I would complain to the head of the school department or whoever is above the teachers at your sons school to ensure nothing like this could ever happen again....I'm so sorry to hear they left your son behind....

It's absolutely disgusting and every parents worst nightmare. I would be having serious words with the authorities if I were you. I don't know, you trust teachers to be responsible and to look after your kids then they go and do something like this. It's an outright sham. I am actually really angry for you at the moment, let us know how things go won't you so I don't worry too much about you or your son.

I would be furious. How could they not figure that out before they got very far. That is like them taking 2 children home on my sons handicap bus and forgetting to bring my son home. They went and parked the bus and went home. I hope he is ok, and I would really raise cane with them when they bring him home.

Raise heck. That is what I think. There is no excuse for that. They put him in danger, not to mention that they probably scared him. That is extremely irresponsible, and neglect of a child. It's a serious matter, and I hope the school takes some disciplinary actions. There is just no excuse. I'm outraged for you!

That is really, really bad! I would be furious if I were you! What a shock you must have gotten when you received that call. I cannot believe that the school can do something like this. Surely you would think that they would have some procedures in place to insure that kids are accounted for. I know my kids school does as I have been on a trip like this as a helper. There were 3 or four kids per adult and each parent only had to worry about their own small group and then the teachers just oversaw the whole thing without having to worry about each and every child. These kids were young and your child's trip obviously would not need that many parents as helpers but they still should have had some sort of measures in place such as checking names before moving onto any other destination point in the trip. A big thumbs down to that school!

Obviously this is an unfortunate situation but these things happen through no fault of the teachers on the trip, Students often stay in groups and I remember going on School trips where we had to make sure everyone was back on the coach. I hope he's back safe and sound.

I hope you are going to make a formal complaint. The school is in loco parentis on these trips and should ensure that all children are accounted for before heading back home. This is disgusting.I hope he returns safe and sound and the headteacher deals severely with the adults who were supposedly in charge.

I think that is very bad, in fact, if I were the parent I would be making a lot of fuss about this. How on earth did they lerave him behind? Didnt the teachers do a head count? Surely, even if they accidently missed him, once on the bus and moving, another student must have noticed him missing? But didnt. after 4 hours? I cant believe this. And not one teacher noticed? I think the Principal will have a lot of explaining to do to you and your son, let alone dealing with the staff responsible.

that's bad. hope your son is fine now. when i had school trips, aside from the teacher's headcount, our tour guide also asks everyone if the person sitting beside us is still the same person before we go out of our bus, and if someone is missing. that is to ensure that nobody's gonna be left behind.

Hi maximax, I don’t understand how the school people can be irresponsible like that. It is their duty to check all the students before starting their journey. I am thinking about your feelings and tension, how you could manage the situation. Once, my son’s school van left behind him in school. He was five years old and studying in first standard. After the class he went to toilet and came for catching his school van, by that time his van left the school. He scared and was too small to inform the school authority and he decided to walk, he was well aware about the road and he walked almost 2 hours under the scorching sun and reached the home safely. But we got tensed much as he was missing from school and the van driver reported that he was not in school (He searched him in his call but he was in toilet). Still I am scared to think about the incident, he walked this much distance in a heavy traffic road he crossed the heavy traffic road. (later he told me he crossed the road with vehicles when the light turn green). Still I feel cry to remember this. Anyway by GOD’s grace your son is safe.

I think it's appalling, obviously. The school ought to have something in place so that they know exactly which children went on the trip so that they can account for each and every one of them before the return trip. They should have known your child was missing and raised a hue and cry about it immediately.

Hi maximax, I feel your tension for your son. The teacher who guided the students in that trip was very irresponsible. She or he should make sure that all students were in the coach. However I'm happy that your son is safe.

OMG that is horrible. I hope your so is ok. How did they leave him behind. Don't they do a head count. Someone should be accountable for this. Something bad could have happened to your son. The things that happens here in the US is a child will be left sleeping on the bus with the bus driver not realizing. They are suppose to check the buses before they take the bus back to the depot.

I would feel the same, its a mothers worry that stuff like that happens. They should have counted the childern before they left to make sure everyone was there and no one was left behind. I would go to the school board with that problem to make sure it never happens again with you child or anyone elses.

Hi Maximax8... I am really sorry that your son was left behind. It is the most unfortunate incident. Thankfully, the school and police are co-operating with you. :) I guess by this time, your son must have returned home.. Once he returns, there is a lot that you can do to avoid such incidents in the future, which cause stress to parents. Go to his school and without ridiculing them for what happened; just get an explanation. Whose mistake was it? Who is responsible for it? Act upon it! You with other parents can create a group or something to make the schools more responsible towards kids. Good Luck! I am sure he's back by this time... :)

I think they need to make a list of children for each bus they use. Then they need to make sure that they do a head count and take attendance on each bus before they leave. I've chaperoned many school outtings (field trips they're called here) and we don't leave children behind. Something could have happened to your child. They should write you a letter of apology, provide an explanation of what happened, and change their policies to ensure that every child is accounted for and tell you how they will account for the children next time. A child can go to the bathroom while the bus is loading up and then take off if you don't do both a head count and take attendance. Also one child can get on the wrong bus to go home and another stay behind, so a head count could be wrong, but there could be a wrong count for another bus and yet the child that is missing is on another bus while one is missing in a building or something. We have children abducted every day in the USA. We have to make sure they all get on the bus. How many chaperones did they have and how many children was each chaperone responcible for? I was responsible for 8 at the most (children your son's age), the younger, the fewer in number. Kindergarden 4 and preschool 2. Who was the chaperone responsible for your son? If a teacher is responsible for all the kids on the bus and the chaperones for different subsets of students, then two people should have been accounting for the kids, one for all of them and 1:8 for whatever number of chaperones to students they had. But 2 people should have been responsible for knowing where you son was. So what do I think? You're all lucky he's OK. Someone wasn't accounting for children, actually a couple of someone's at least. Get to the bottom of this before something horrible happens to someone's child.

Hi, maximax8. This is just so sad! How can you not know that a student was left behind on the trip. And why did they leave him behind anyway??? This just does not make any sense at all! I am glad that he is okay and safe from all harm and danger. The person who was responsible for watching these kids, should have been more attentive to their surroundings. What is the coach saying.. Was this a mistake?? Or done on purpose?

Hi Maxine, I read your post and all your comments to the answers. I would be very upset if that ha``ened to me. And I would not accept a polite "I´m sorry" to end the issue. I think that this proves also that there were not enough grown ups with the children or the the person in charge was not doing a good job. THe school has to answer for that even if the head of the school went immediatly to fetch Ryan. A big .

Its really nice that your son who is 14 back to you,its a disturbing situation when ones child does not returns back.Actually its a mistake which every-one of us must take responsibility,we just cannot accuse the school authorities alone,the conductor,the child and even the parents, all of us equally responsible. There's something missing then only this type of accident happens and therefor that missing element has to be fixed upon,it may be the communication gap or the instruction were not been followed both by the children or the authorities......proper drilling was not done before hand. At the end it had ended in a positive note,and hence it should not happen in the future and therefor we have to take care of it,very diligently.

Thats really irresponsible and curses on them. And the answers they give is not a matured way. But dont worry, your son will be back home soon. Do take some actions or complaint about this behaviour of the school. This could happen to any other child too.