DeSoto County bus driver on leave after refusing to let students off

DESOTO CO., Miss. (WMC) - A bus driver in DeSoto County is on administrative leave after a parent’s video was posted to social media showing the driver refusing to let children get off.

The video was filmed in the Braybourne subdivision in Olive Branch as the children were being taken home from Center Hill Elementary School.

Parents say they began to worry when the bus had not arrived about 40 to 45 minutes after their usual drop-off time.

Parents say the bus driver pulled over and refused to allow the children off the bus despite the students clearly becoming distraught while on the bus.

An upset parent began filming on Facebook Live.

“So as a mom, I just immediately went Facebook Live and started banging on the door and I was like, ‘That is my child in there! It is hot out here!’” said parent Misty Grubbs, whose Facebook video has now been shared nearly 4,000 times.

In the video, you can see one child climbing out of the window of the bus.

School officials say the incident is still being reviewed, but students told their parents the reason the bus driver stopped the bus was because a student used her cell phone to call her parent after being told not to.

Parents say the children should not have been forced to stay on the bus for more than 30 minutes.

“We no longer feel safe about our kids in the DeSoto School District. Everybody wants to be able to send their kid to school safe,” said parent Anna-Marie Tyler.

Parents say they are still frustrated that the school district took a full day to get back to them.

As for now, they say they plan to continue driving their children back and forth to school rather than letting them back on the bus.

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