Virginia Beach, Va. - It was a first day of school that ended with a scary and sweltering bus ride home. Dozens of College Park Elementary School students were stranded Tuesday, stuck on their bus, parents say for up to an hour.
“Everybody was scared, everybody started screaming and I was just scared," says Asaad Powell, a fifth grader at College Park Elementary School.
"He couldn't even tell me how his first day of school went because he was frustrated about being on a hot bus," says Shawn Davis, Asaad Powell’s father.
An official with Virginia Beach Schools says it was a malfunction with the bus' stop arm that caused the driver to pull over. They say the bus driver called maintenance and waited along College Park Boulevard.
Amanda Thompson says she had four grandchildren on the bus. Thompson says she was never notified by the school and had to call to find out where they were. Officials did not say if they reached out to parents about the bus delay.
"When I pulled up parents were going crazy,” Thompson says. “Kids were crying, mine were soaking wet with sweat, faces red, they were exhausted. The one that has Autism was totally traumatized."
School officials say parents were only allowed to pick up kids if they showed an ID. However, parents say that was not the case.
"I went up to the bus and said 'get off the bus, let’s go' and they just got right off the bus with no ID, nothing,” says Matthew Thompson, Amanda Thompson’s son. “She didn't even look at me."
The school's principal and assistant principal boarded the bus to help safely drop off the rest of the students.
"I think I'm going to be taking my kids to school tomorrow and picking them up," Amanda Thompson says.
