Reported by Margaret Kavanagh
OSCEOLA COUNTY -- A school bus driver and his assistant are out of a job after a 3-year-old boy was left on a bus for almost seven hours.
The special needs boy was supposed to be dropped off at Sunrise Elementary School, but spent Tuesday sitting on the bus instead of at school.
The driver, Benjamin Gonzalez and the assistant Carmen Pacheco, reportedly did not check the bus after dropping off the rest of the students at Sunrise Elementary School and parking the bus in the bus barn at Horizon Middle School.
The boy was eventually discovered in the afternoon after spending almost seven hours strapped to his seat.
"When the bus driver [was] getting ready to prepare the bus for the afternoon routes the student was found," said Dana Schafer, of the Osceola School District.
The boy's mother reportedly got a call in the afternoon from a school employee saying the boy was fine, but he was left on the bus all day.
The mother took the child to the hospital and called the Department of Children and Families. The boy is reportedly doing OK after being checked out at the hospital.
Both the driver and assistant resigned from their positions.
Officials said they were glad it was cool outside because this story could have had a much more tragic outcome if it had been hot.
Both Gonzalez and Pacheco are facing neglect charges. Both have posted bond, but Gonzalez was still in jail early Friday morning.
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