Pahrump school bus driver being investigated after 4-year-old left on bus

Nye County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a school bus driver after she failed to drop off a 4-year-old special education student, leaving the child in the parked bus unattended.

The Nye County School District bus driver Kristina Mann has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation. A student aide who was also present on the bus is also on administrative leave. However, the aide is not the focus of the investigation by the sheriff’s office and was not named.

The sheriff’s office said it is investigating Mann for a possible charge of child neglect for the Dec. 14 incident.

The sheriff’s office said that Mann left the student on the bus after dropping off the other students on board at a local elementary school. Mann then drove the bus back to the bus yard, located off of Highway 372 and South Woodchips Drive, where the child was left. Another employee discovered the child in the bus about an hour later, according to police.

The child was transported to its school where it completed its school day, the sheriff’s office stated.

Mann has not been arrested at this time, but the sheriff’s office said that the investigation is ongoing.

Cameron McRae, director of transportation for the school district, said the longtime bus driver completed her route and for undetermined reasons did not drop off the 4-year-old child at the school. He confirmed the child was a special education student.

“The student was left secure in the bus seat,” McRae said. “It’s unfortunate circumstance and should have never happened. There’s a procedure and a process that they’re supposed to do to keep that from happening, and the staff on the bus did not do it.”

McRae wouldn’t comment on the exact length of the suspension for Mann, but said this type of infraction carries a suspension of up to 20 days.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.