HOXIE, Kan.KWCH/Gray News) – A Kansas family is left searching for answers after a 5-year-old boy was left alone on his school bus for several hours.

The Hoxie School District confirmed the incident occurred on October 28.

Even though a few weeks have passed, Leta Meitl, the 5-year-old’s grandmother, still has unanswered questions.

Meitl said her grandson, who is in kindergarten, got on the bus that morning and fell asleep during the ride. The bus driver, unaware that the child had not gotten off the bus, returned home after finishing the trip.

“How could this happen? » said Meitl. “You count three (children) getting off the bus. You count three to get on the bus. It’s not rocket science.

The kindergartner woke up hours later in the bus driver’s driveway.

Meitl said she cried because of the situation.

“I kept wondering what was going on in his little mind,” she said.

Six hours later, the bus driver discovered the boy was still on the bus.

Meitl said she was relieved that the weather was mild that day. She worried that her grandson might have suffered heat exhaustion or frozen if the temperatures had been extreme.

She said bus drivers should always check their buses at the end of the day and at the end of their shift.

“It takes less than 10 seconds to walk to the back and back to the front of the bus,” Meitl said.

In a statement released to KWCH Thursday, the Hoxie School District confirmed the bus driver is no longer employed by the district.

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