Michigan parents speaking out after they say their daughter was almost hit by her school bus

ADRIAN, Michigan (WTVG) - Parents will do anything to protect their children, and when their five-year-old daughter was almost hit by her school bus as she was trying to board it, parents Amber and Frank Torres knew they couldn’t stay quiet.

“He made sure the girls that got on the bus already were sitting down and he shut the door. He didn’t look at the door, pay attention if anybody else was coming in or not, he just shut the door on her,” said Frank Torres.

Amber says she reached out to the Madison School’s superintendent, Nick Steinmetz, multiple times, but wasn’t getting a reply. “And he didn’t call me, and he didn’t call me, until after I got ahold of the news station, then he decided to call me?”

In an email sent to 13abc, Superintendent Steinmetz said:

“I did have the chance to speak with Mrs. Torres this afternoon. Mrs. Torres reached out to the district regarding a concern that she had with her daughter’s morning pick up from bus stop. She came in and met with our transportation director to review the bus tape this morning. From the bus footage, it was difficult to understand where her concern was coming from. However, after taking the time to talk through the events with Mrs. Torres, we were able to reinforce our practices, at not only this bus stop, but all of our bus stops. The Madison School District takes great precautions within our transportation department. We go to the extent that we do not even allow our students to cross the road to board our buses. All of our bus pickups are on always on the door side of the bus.

As a superintendent, I am a big believer in that positive relationships/interactions are the best ways to solve any issues/concerns that arise. Today was a great example of that. I truly appreciate partnerships with parents like Mrs. Torres.”

Nick Steinmetz

Superintendent

“They were more worried about being blameless in this situation than the safety of the children they’re supposed to protect and that’s terrifying,” Amber said.

Now, she is happy to be talking with Steinmetz about this, but the footage is concerning to her. 13abc requested it from Steinmetz but didn’t hear back.

“You couldn’t see the doors, you can’t see the doors in that, and if you could’ve you would’ve seen her, and it’s so alarming because the one thing you can see in that video is that he didn’t look at the doors when he closed it and he didn’t look at the doors when he pulled off,” Amber said.

Amber is hoping to encourage others to speak up for their children. “My kid is my life, don’t give up on your kids.” She also says she is holding the superintendent accountable for his reply.

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