Marlborough third-grade student left on bus, then alone on street

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Marlborough third-grade student left on bus, then alone on street
Marlborough Public Schools is investigating how a third grader was placed on a bus he was not supposed to ride. File photo by/Dakota Antelman 

MARLBOROUGH – The city’s public schools system is conducting an investigation into how a third-grade student was first placed on a bus he was not supposed to ride, then left on a nearby street alone.

In a story first reported on WHDH-TV-7News, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, the incident happened on Wednesday, Aug. 28, the first day of classes for Marlborough Public Schools.

“On Thursday, Aug. 29, the Goodnow [Elementary] School received a report that on the first day of school, Wednesday, Aug. 28, a student was mistakenly put on a school bus at the end of the school day. The child was scheduled to remain in the school building at an extended day program,” according to Superintendent Mary Murphy in a statement released on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

According to the student’s mother Stephanie Bagu, when she arrived at Goodnow to pick him up, he wasn’t there, and nobody at the school knew where he went.

Bagu then received a call from a woman, who was driving home from work, saying she spotted Bagu’s son standing on the side of Bolton Street. The woman had found Bagu’s phone number in the boy’s backpack.

Bagu went to Bolton Street to get her son, who she said had been in the area for three hours.

“I am grateful that he was OK. He wasn’t hurt or anything,” she told 7News. “I’m just really thankful that someone didn’t walk off with him.”

Bagu said this was not the first time this has happened to her son. He had been placed on a bus he was not supposed to ride; she said in that case, the driver knew her son was not supposed to be on that bus, and drove him back to school.

“This was a terrifying incident for the family,” said Murphy. “Families trust us with their children, and is our responsibility to ensure that students are dismissed to the proper location. It is obvious that the school procedures failed.

“A full investigation is currently taking place. Once all the facts are collected, we will share a detailed plan to ensure that this never happens again,” she added.

Murphy said a follow-up meeting has been scheduled with the student’s mother.

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