Clarendon 1: Bus driver should have looked for girl

By ROBERT BAKER
Item Staff Writer
bbaker@theitem.com

SUMMERTON — Clarendon School District 1 officials said that if a bus driver had followed policy, a 5-year-old girl said to be a student at Summerton Early Childhood Center would not have been left alone on a bus after it was parked for the night.

According to reports, the driver, a 47-year-old Manning resident, failed to walk through the bus after finishing the route on Tuesday evening. And the girl, who had apparently fallen asleep, was left about seven or eight rows back.

Superintendent Dr. Rose Wilder said the district's policy for checking buses after routes is well-known to drivers.

"When the last child is delivered home in the afternoon or evening, the bus driver is required to walk the entire bus and make sure that no one is left on the bus," Wilder said. "If this procedure is followed, you would know whether a child was on the bus or not."

No charges will be filed, said Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett.

For more information, see Thursday's edition of The Item.