A city watchdog found major transportation and communication failures after the children reached their Brooklyn school more than four hours late.
NEW YORK — Six nonverbal special education students ages 6 to 8 spent more than four hours aboard a school bus before reaching their Brooklyn school after a substitute driver became lost, according to a New York City watchdog investigation.
The students were expected to arrive at P.S. 289 in Crown Heights before 9 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2025, but the bus did not reach the school until about 1:25 p.m. The investigation by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District found that school staff and parents spent hours trying to determine where the children were as the bus traveled to incorrect locations.
Investigators said the fill-in driver went to two wrong Brooklyn schools before dispatch provided the correct address at about 10:40 a.m. The students had been scheduled to arrive during a morning drop-off period between about 8:20 and 9 a.m. School employees began trying to locate the bus after it failed to appear.
School staff contacted Consolidated Bus Transit, the private company operating the route, at about 10 a.m. The school later notified the city Department of Education’s transportation office. At about 11:45 a.m., a dispatcher told school staff that the driver was lost but was expected to arrive within about 15 minutes. The bus did not reach the school for roughly another hour and 40 minutes.
A mother with two children on the bus was able to follow their movements using AirTags placed in their backpacks. The tracking devices showed the children traveling to locations other than their school, according to investigators. As concern about the students grew, police were contacted.
Investigators also reviewed location information from the city’s school transportation system. GPS records showed the bus was still near one student’s residence shortly before 11 a.m., according to reports on the investigation. That information conflicted with the driver’s account that all six students had been picked up earlier in the morning.
When the bus reached P.S. 289 at about 1:25 p.m., school personnel found that one student had urinated on herself during the prolonged ride. Investigators said some of the children became agitated while others slept. Because the students were nonverbal, they could not tell school employees or their parents what had happened during the hours they remained aboard the bus.
The investigation also faulted the bus matron, who, like the driver, was working a temporary assignment on the route that day. Investigators found that she did not contact the school or the bus company for help as the delay continued. The city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation recommended that neither employee be allowed to supervise Department of Education students again.
Consolidated Bus Transit said both workers had been on administrative leave since the December incident. The company said they were not permitted on its buses and had no contact with students while proceedings continued under the applicable labor agreement.
The findings became public in October, about 10 months after the trip. The investigation documented failures involving routing, communication and supervision while six young students remained away from school for hours longer than expected. Reports reviewed did not indicate that criminal charges had been filed in connection with the incident.
The driver and matron remained barred from student contact in the latest reports, while the watchdog’s findings renewed scrutiny of how New York City’s contracted school transportation system responds when buses carrying students fail to reach their destinations on schedule.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.