6-year-old left behind on Ferris ISD school bus

A school bus driver has been relieved of duties after a 6-year-old boy was found scared and alone near a Ferris cemetery trying to get to school after being left on the bus.

Cynthia Floyd said her four kids got on the bus together heading to McDonald Elementary School in Ferris on Tuesday morning. The kids say Colyn sat at the back of the bus and fell asleep. They got off the bus with their friends and went to school not realizing he wasn't with them.

Floyd says Colyn woke up on the bus, parked back at the bus barn, alone and scared. He got off the bus and tried to run the mile and a half to school.

“I couldn't believe it,” Floyd said. “I couldn't believe my baby had just walked all that way and crossing the streets the way he did. He's not allowed to do that here.”

The Ferris ISD superintendent declined to talk on camera but told us student safety and security are of paramount concern. He said Colyn made it about a block and a half before someone at the administration building spotted him and thought a six-year-old with a backpack running alone seemed odd.

The superintendent said they went looking for him, but didn't catch up to him right away because they didn't know what route he took.      

Floyd said they finally located Colyn off a busy road near a cemetery close to the school.

“If I would have left him in a vehicle anywhere,” Floyd said. “I wouldn't even have my kids right now. If I did that, CPS would be in my life.”

The superintendent admits the bus driver did not follow proper protocol, which includes inspecting the interior of the bus when its returned to the bus barn.

Floyd gets emotional just thinking about what could have happened to her youngest child and hopes the district will do more to ensure it never happens again.

“He said he was crying on the bus for mommy and mommy wasn't coming,” Floyd said.

The bus driver has been relieved of her driving duties, but the superintendent could not confirm if she is still employed by the district.

Floyd kept her kids home from school on Wednesday and said she plans on putting them in another school district.