Danger In Newport News Schools

Another school year. Another horror story out of Newport News Public Schools.

This one didn’t have a tragic ending. Thank God.

In September of 2021 two students were shot in the hallways of Heritage High School by a miscreant who was attending school in a court-ordered ankle bracelet.

In January of 2022, first grade teacher Abby Zwerner was shot in the chest by a 6-year-old who brought his mother’s loaded gun to school. When administrators were told the kid had a firearm they shrugged and said his pockets were “too small” to hide a weapon.

And on the first day of school this week, 7-year-old Sharilyah Ackiss, a student at Hidenwood Elementary School, mistakenly got off the school bus on Jefferson Avenue. When she didn’t see her mommy, she realized she was at the wrong bus stop and the confused little girl tried to get back on the bus.

According to the child, and her grandmother who’s seen the video from the bus camera, the driver blocked the little girl and told her once you get off a bus, you can’t get back on.

What in the world is going on in Newport News? 

On Monday, in response to inquiries by 13News, a spokesman for the school division said the situation was being investigated and that “student safety is our top priority.”

Oh really? You could have fooled us.

In fact, there seems to be an alarming pattern of indifference to student safety in Newport News. 

Here’s what we know about the case of the Monstrous Bus Driver, assuming the 13 News report is accurate: A little girl - probably a 2nd grader - on the first day of school was confused about where to get off the bus. She was supposed to go to an after-school program at Deer Park School, but accidentally got off at the busy intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Pavilion Place. 

She looked around for her mom, when she didn’t see her, she tried to get back on the bus, but the driver wouldn’t let her. “Once you get off you can’t get back on,” the driver reportedly told the child.

Then the driver left this baby by a freeway and drove off. 

Horrific.

Little Sharilyah remembered where she was and walked home. According to Channel 13, the babysitter caring for Sharilyah’s brother at the family home said the girl was covered in sweat when she finally arrived. Meanwhile, the after-care program had phoned Sharilyah’s mother at work to tell her that her daughter had not arrived.

That’s a phone call no mother ever wants to receive.

We’ll hear about “personnel matters” and privacy rights as we attempt to find out the fate of the driver of the bus. But the school system owes the public and the Ackiss family an explanation about what happened and details about what measures are being taken to ensure it never takes place again.

Dumping a small child alongside one of the busiest thoroughfares in Hampton Roads is heartless. Any adult who would do such a thing has no business being around children, let alone driving them on a school bus.

Fire her. ASAP.