2 arrested after special-needs student left on school bus

BOCA RATON, Fla. — A school bus driver and an aide were arrested in connection with a special-needs student recently being left on a bus for more than five hours, WPBF reports.

Robert Avossa, the superintendent of the School District of Palm Beach County, announced that the bus driver, Claudette Sylvain, and the bus aide, Carmen Zow, have been charged with child neglect, according to the news source.

The student was picked up at school, and Sylvain dropped off the bus at the depot when she finished the route. According to a report, the student was left unattended on the bus for about five hours and 22 minutes before a mechanic found him, according to WPBF.

Sylvain, who was hired at the beginning of the year, was fired immediately. Zow has worked for the district for nine years, the news source reports.

Avossa told WPBF that he didn’t know how both adults could have forgotten that the child was on the bus, and that the reason the district puts two adults on the bus is to ensure the students are safe.

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