On a recent Wednesday, Justin Jayne waited to pick up his first-grade daughter at her regular school bus stop in southwest Denver. She didn’t get off the bus.

“A bunch of kids got off the bus. Thea was not among them,” Jayne said.

The bus drove off.

“I wound up driving to the school. The staff did not know what was going on,” he said.

After about 90 minutes of confusion and multiple phone calls between parents, school staff, and the transportation department, Thea was eventually found at Place Bridge Academy, a different school served by the same bus route.

“She was very upset. She was crying, very scared,” Jayne said. “She came here, at the drop-off, she just didn’t recognize the stop, and she’s new to the bus. She’s a first-grader, she’s never ridden the bus before.”

Thea’s story i

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