CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The family of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools first grader is seeking answers after they said she was placed on the wrong bus and left to find her own way back home.
The little girl's brother Altieri Lopez said a teacher put his 7-year-old sister, Valentina Perdomo, on a bus leaving E. E. Waddell Language Academy Monday afternoon, but she was soon told to get off by the driver because it was the wrong bus.
By that time, Lopez said his sister told him there were no more buses or teachers around, so she started walking down busy Nations Ford Road.
"She decides to keep on walking straight cause she figures eventually she'll find the house, our home,” Lopez said. “And she says the whole time she was crying, and she told us that she thought she was never going to see us again."
When Valentina almost reached Interstate 77, Lopez said his sister turned back around and found a man to ask for help. The man took Valentina to a nearby Burger King where two women let her call her mom.
“Thankfully, she was smart enough to remember my mom’s phone number,” Lopez added.
Valentina’s mother was able to find her daughter, but the family knows the situation could have turned out much worse for a 7-year-old wandering a busy street alone.
"My worst fear is that she could have been kidnapped,” Lopez said. “Or like, you know, also there's a lot of cars on the road at any given time of the day, and she said she crossed the road like three times trying to figure out which way to go."
WCNC Charlotte reached out to CMS to ask how this situation could have happened. A CMS spokesperson said in a statement:
“The school was aware of the situation yesterday and spoke with the family. The school and transportation are investigating what may have happened. Due to FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and Board policy, we are not able to provide any specific information about the child.”
Lopez said he would like to see more accountability from the school and hopes this doesn’t happen to any other child.
"The school told us 'We're so sorry,'" Lopez said. "'This will never happen again,' but it wasn't supposed to happen in the first place. You send your kid to school 'cause school's a safe place, and you expect them to be home safe. But no one at the school made sure of that yesterday with my sister."