Officials: Bus driver fired after 5-year-old boy left on school bus

WILMINGTON, Del. (FOX 29) - A Wilmington family says their 5-year-old son was left on the bus in subfreezing temperatures for an entire day after he fell asleep.

FOX 29's Chris O'Connell reports.

Ibn Polk, 5, has every reason to be happy Wednesday night because Tuesday was a nightmare.

"When I picked him up, he was soaking wet. He urinated on himself. He had nothing to eat and said he was crying," his mom, Ivana Dennis said.

The Wilmington kindergartner hopped on his school bus Tuesday morning on his way to Linden Hill Elementary, but he never made it.

The poor little guy fell asleep on the bus and spent more than six hours alone on the bus in subfreezing temperatures most of the time sleeping.

It wasn't until the bus driver started afternoon routes that the little boy was finally discovered.

"We failed this family and this child," Pati Nash with Red Clay School District said.

The Red Clay School District says a driver contracted with Sutton Bus Company has now been fired.

FOX 29 learned the bus was equipped with an alarm to force drivers to check for students on the bus. The parents also wonder why the school never called to let them know the boy never made it to class.

"We are entrusted with those children from 8 to 3 o'clock and we have to be certain we have them," Nash said.

The school district has started its own investigation and is reviewing policies to try to make sure this doesn't happen again.

For Ibn's parents, they're glad their boy is OK, but his dad who is a driver himself still questions for the district.