Anastasia Coleman, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District, issued a blistering statement Friday after her office completed its probe into a school bus driver who left six nonverbal special education students trapped on his vehicle for more than four hours last December.
“It is highly disturbing that six nonverbal children were left on a school bus for hours while their whereabouts remained unknown to school officials,” Coleman said in a statement. “These particularly vulnerable students rely on the adults entrusted with their care to ensure their safety.”
The driver, Eric Chery, was supposed to deliver the children to PS 289 in Crown Heights between 8:20 a.m. And 9:00 a.m. On Dec. 16. He did not arrive until 1:25 p.m., according to the SCI findings.
Chery, employed by contractor Consolidated Bus Transit, bounced between wrong schools and completely missed his morning drop-off window, investigators determined. GPS data from the Department of Education later showed he was still outside one student’s home as late as 10:59 a.m., contradicting his claim that all pickups were finished by 10 a.m.
A mother of two of the students had tucked tracking devices inside her children’s backpacks. The data showed the bus traveling all across Brooklyn while the children remained on board, according to the investigation.
School staff reached out to Consolidated Bus Transit around 10 a.m. After the bus failed to arrive. They received no response. At 11:45 a.m., a bus dispatcher told school staff that Chery was lost but would arrive in 15 minutes. He never showed, forcing officials to report the missing children to the NYPD.
When the bus finally pulled up to P.S. 289, also known as “The Brower School,” school staff inspected the vehicle and found one child had urinated on herself, removed her own diaper and leggings, and was lying flat on the bus floor soaking wet, investigators said.
Germina Thomas, a bus matron with nearly 20 years of experience, admitted to investigators that she did not speak with Chery during the morning trip. She also made no attempt to contact the school, bus depot or anyone else for help, according to the SCI report.
Councilmember Gale Brewer weighed in on the findings, placing the incident in a broader context of systemic failures. “As the former Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Investigations, I held hearings on this issue in November 2022, issued reports, and requested audits,” Brewer said in a statement. “At the time, 350 school buses experienced delays daily, and the problem continues.”
Brewer added that the SCI had highlighted one important case, but emphasized that “this is not an isolated situation.” School bus delays remain a persistent problem across the city, she said.
The NYPD is looking into the incident. It is not immediately clear whether Chery was arrested.
Consolidated Bus Transit, the special commissioner of investigation and the NYC Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment.