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Mom sues PPS, school bus company for dropping off son alone

Catlin Moser says her son Zaia, 5, is disabled and autistic, and a special education student. She says twice last year, the bus dropped him off six blocks away from home, with no adult present.

PORTLAND, Ore. – A mother is suing Portland Public Schools and the bus company it contracts with, First Student, for $625,000.

Catlin Moser says her 5-year-old son Zaia is disabled and autistic, and a special education student.

Moser says twice last year, the bus dropped the kindergartner off six blocks away from home, with no adult present.

Moser says because of her son’s special needs, under district policy, if there’s no adult present, the bus is supposed to drop her son off at the Unmet Student Facility.

The first time it happened was October of 2017. Moser says a stranger picked up her son, and brought him home.

The second time it happened, in November of 2017, Moser said her son was missing for more than an hour.

KGW-TV talked to Moser about both incidents.

The lawsuit says says Zaia is now terrified to ride the school bus, is afraid to go to school, afraid to be alone, has night terrors, and cries for no reason.

Portland Public Schools' Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero says the school district has a responsibility to make sure that students are safe, including making sure they get to and from school.

“We provide transportation, we contract with other bus companies to get our students back and forth, and unfortunately we’ve had incidents where our students weren't delivered safely to their doorstep and that’s deeply troubling to me, I know that I have stated that,” Guerrero said.

“We need to take a critical look at our policies and our practices, even if that’s with the contracted service provider, to make sure we leave no room for mistakes like that."

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