The recent article which describes Benson Hill Elementary’s role in the incident in which kindergartners were kicked off the school bus far from their daycare did not address the responsibility of the bus driver and the transportation department. The bus on our route, while typically doing well, has some glitches like picking students up before the specified time (leaving a child to get a ride from a neighbor), dropping kids off early (leaving them waiting for ten minutes before parents arrived), and missing stops altogether, relying on others to report the problem, having no idea themselves that anything was amiss. I recognize that in none of these instances has a child been hurt, which is the only reason that the school district has been able to talk about the “10,000 other students” who arrived home safely.

While I appreciate that Benson Hill Elementary is willing to take responsibility for changes they could make, the real responsibility lies on the shoulders of the driver and the transportation department. The incident with the kindergartners should have involved a few minutes of worry for the daycare workers and that’s it. The driver should have made appropriate calls and in short time had the children in the right location. So, I ask the transportation department to represent itself well and not sit by while all the public blame is placed on the school staff, to take responsibility for making a better system with more internal check systems, and to be public about taking that responsibility.

Ellen Tennis

Renton