A Chula Vista mother is demanding new safety rules after her autistic son was hospitalized from severe heat exposure on a school bus with no air conditioning.
Marisol Wojciechowski said her 15-year-old son Gabriel, a freshman at Hilltop High School, was repeatedly left waiting on the sweltering vehicle because his special-needs schedule releases him 30 minutes earlier than other students. Temperatures in the San Diego County city hit 97 degrees during the September heat wave when Gabriel first fell ill.
“He had nosebleeds, really bad headaches and he didn’t want to do nothing. And then when he would get off the bus, he was lightheaded and I was like, ‘are you okay?'” Wojciechowski said San Diego. “Right away I would put ice pack on him on his neck and gave him water.”
Gabriel’s autism prevents him from communicating when he feels overheated, his mother explained, making him especially vulnerable during the daily waits. After his symptoms kept returning, Wojciechowski took him to the emergency room.
“He was very dehydrated. They had to keep him there to give him IV fluids,” she said San Diego.
Wojciechowski later boarded the bus herself to understand what her son endured. She said the driver informed her that once Gabriel was released to him, the teen could not leave the vehicle.
“The bus driver was telling me that once he’s released to him, he couldn’t get off the bus. And I was like, ‘no.’ I got on the bus and said ‘Gabriel, go get in the car. Sit in the car. There’s air conditioning and I’ll be right there,'” she recounted San Diego.
The driver, she added, claimed it was normal practice for students to sit on the bus in such extreme temperatures.
Wojciechowski is now pressing the Sweetwater Union High School District to implement stronger protections before the next heat wave strikes.
“I want them to put the kids first. Leaving them on the bus is not safe, not even for five minutes during the heat,” she said San Diego.
The district superintendent did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The California Post.