CRESTVIEW — Two Crestview parents got the scare of their lives on Aug. 10.
The first day of kindergarten for the Prophets’ 5-year-old daughter, Taniya, began well at the bus stop, but by that afternoon had become a school- and police-involved search for their missing child.
Bronta (pronounced Bron'tay) Prophet, an honorably discharged Air Forces Security Forces employee, said he waited Wednesday morning at the bus stop with his daughter, Taniya.
The bus driver stepped off the bus and examined Taniya's school-provided card necklace to verify her bus information and details. She let Taniya get on the bus, and allegedly told the girls’ father, "I will not release her (to anyone after school) unless a parent is here."
Because it was Taniya's first day, the whole Prophet family showed up at the bus stop that rainy afternoon about 3:45 p.m. to celebrate a milestone. The gathering included her dad; her mom, Tiffany, an Air Force Reservist and Civil Service employee; and her older sister, Brianna, 12, a student at the Okaloosa STEMM Academy, Valparaiso.
But Taniya wasn't on the bus.
"After school, they put her on the wrong bus by herself," Bronta Prophet said during a telephone conversation, and, he said, the driver of that bus dropped her off at the wrong bus stop, several stops away from her house.
"The bus driver that was there, she was just as confused as we were, and she actually stayed with us for the two-plus hours that we were there," Bronta Prophet said.
His wife immediately called the school, staying on the phone with one of Antioch's staffers as they checked with bus drivers by radio.
"When the bus driver was at the bus stop with us, they didn't mention our daughter's name (over the radio) until they had mentioned five other kids who they were trying to locate and find,” Prophet said. “This is one of the reasons I called (the paper) and spotlighted the incident … They did an all-bus call over the radio, and actually they had several kids misplaced that day."
As for Taniya, school officials didn't find her on campus, and called the transportation department for them to do a bus-by-bus check, in case she had fallen asleep and stayed on the bus.
"They didn't know where she was, where she got off. They didn't even know if she got placed on the bus. They didn't know nothing," her father said.
Meanwhile, Taniya, confused and needing help to get home, tried to wave down passing motorists for assistance. One of those motorists pulled over to assist her, knocking on doors in the neighborhood to see if she lived in the area.
"The gentleman … that actually found my daughter on the street, he knocked on a few houses in the area and asked if this was their kid,” Prophet said. “One of the (residents) opened their garage and let them stay there out of the rain while he called the police."
Two Crestview police officers who answered the call noticed the family at the bus stop while en route, and after talking with the man who found Taniya, drove back to the bus stop and asked the family if they knew a Taniya Prophet.
They told the two officers yes, and the police told the family to follow their car to the home where Taniya was waiting.
Okaloosa County School District’s transportation policy states, in part, that "bus drivers shall not … put a student off the bus any place other than their assigned stop" and "School bus drivers will not under any circumstances leave students unattended or without proper school district supervision."
Henry Kelley, with the OCSD’s Office of Community Affairs, said the district has cameras on all their buses and he cannot comment on Taniya's situation until a review of that camera footage is complete.
The Prophets, who said they discussed the situation with Antioch's principal and assistant principal, and her teacher, said, "They basically apologized and said they would fix the issue," Bronta Prophet said. But as of Monday, the family is still waiting to hear what kinds of procedures have been put in place to ensure Taniya's future safety when riding buses to and from Antioch Elementary.
They said they did speak with Jay McInnis, OCSD Transportation Department program director, Friday evening and this past Monday.
"He gave me his deepest apologies — it was genuine. He said that he was going directly Monday morning to meet with the principal at Antioch and discuss this issue, because he was never made aware of Taniya's situation," Bronta Prophet said.
"He is working to try to resolve this issue and make sure it doesn't happen again."
Until that time, the Prophets are taking no chances — they drop Taniya off at school and pick her up themselves.
"We have to personally take her now," her dad said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview kindergartner's parents seek bus safety changes