By RODNEY HART
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

A Quincy mother is asking how her 4-year-old daughter was left on a Quincy Public Schools bus Monday, then was found walking on a busy south-side street in the pouring rain.

Melissa Clay said her 4-year-old was supposed to be taken to the Early Childhood and Family Education Center Monday morning. The girl got on the bus in front of her home at 19th and Monroe at 8 a.m. But at 10:30 a.m., Clay received a call about her daughter being left on the bus.

The child was shaken but not physically injured after a passer-by noticed her walking in the middle of 24th Street near Monroe, the mother said.

“All they can really do is tell me they are sorry and that they really don’t know how it happened,” Clay said Wednesday. “All I know is that if that was me, I’d be arrested for child endangerment.”

The school bus driver, Tim Wilson, apparently did not see the sleeping child when he parked the bus near 24th and Jackson after dropping off students at the Early Childhood Center, 401 S. Eighth, where classes start at 8:30 a.m.

Quincy Public Schools Superintendent Lonny Lemon said Wilson submitted his resignation Tuesday. A helper on the bus got off at the Early Childhood Center and was not on the bus when the child was apparently overlooked.

Clay said her daughter told her she woke up and managed to get out of the bus, then tried to knock on one nearby door and ring the doorbell at another house.

The child was found by a retired police officer, Clay said. Quincy police confirmed that an officer was flagged down Monday morning in reference to a small child wandering in the street in the pouring rain.

Lemon said an investigation took place Tuesday. He did not say who the driver was or whether any action has been taken. Clay said the bus also had a helper to assist the driver.

Lemon said the matter was discussed in executive session at Wednesday’s monthly School Board meeting.

Lemon said state law mandates that all school bus drivers thoroughly check the bus after they drop off students.

Clay and Lemon talked by phone Tuesday. Clay says her daughter is still scared to go back to school.

Clay also wants to know why Early Childhood staff did not call her when her child didn’t show up for school. Lemon said it’s school policy to inform parents when their child has an unexcused absence.

“It all happened pretty quickly. I do know she was notified,” Lemon said.

Julie Schuckman of the Early Childhood and Family Center said the little girl’s parents were “in the process of being notified when the child was brought to us.“

“We are just very glad she is safe,” Schuckman said.

— rhart@whig.com/221-3370