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Mother Says Bus Driver Failed Her Son

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2007

DUNEDIN - A school bus driver is under investigation after a developmentally disabled 9-year-old boy fell asleep on his school bus Friday morning and woke up to find himself in the school bus compound, according to school officials and the boy's mother.

School bus drivers are supposed to walk through their buses after their student passengers are dropped off at their school, said Andrea Zahn, spokeswoman for the Pinellas County School District.

Chanita Gooden said her son's school bus driver didn't take that step. The driver was identified by Zahn as Georgia Nolati, 61.

According to Gooden, her son, Antonio Stephens, boarded his bus for Curlew Creek Elementary School at about 7:40 a.m. at the intersection of San Salvador Drive and Paloma Lane. The fourth-grader later told her that when he woke up he was surrounded by buses. Unbeknownst to him, he had awakened in the school bus compound, his mother said.

His school bus driver was getting her things together in the bus to get ready to leave when he woke up, Gooden said. The driver then gave him a ride to Curlew, stopping at a house along the way, Gooden said. He arrived there at 10:30 a.m., more than two hours after he should have, she said.

Gooden described her son as a developmentally disabled student who is incapable of remembering his own telephone number, and who thought he was the one who would get into trouble.

Nolati is not driving the Curlew Elementary route Antonio takes while her actions are investigated, Zahn said.

"They told me there would be some type of punishment," said Gooden, who works as a medical assistant in a doctor's office. "They said he had a good nap. I said that's not acceptable. ... He could have gotten off the bus in the compound and got lost."

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 415-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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