On Monday, like most days, one mother of a Kindergarten student at Lyles-Crouch Elementary School walked to her neighborhood school bus stop at 2:55 p.m. to meet her daughter. But on this particular day, the mother noticed that the bus was pulling away just as she arrived. So she broke into a full sprint and chased after the bus, calling out for the driver to stop. The bus eventually stopped, and the worried mother boarded to investigate.

"Where’s my daughter?" said the mother, who asked that her name not be revealed to protect the identify of her daughter.

Because the bus arrived ahead of schedule, the mother was not there to meet the bus when it arrived. So the driver — a substitute from the woman who normally drives the bus — asked a second-grader to escort the Kindergartner to her home. The students took a different route to the house than the mother, so the mother did not meet her daughter on the way to the bus stop. When she got home, she discovered her daughter distraught and waiting outside the locked house.

"I know that mistakes will happen in life," said the mother. "But I want to know what is going to stop this from happening again."

CONCERNS HAVE BEEN mounting for weeks in Alexandria after a Mount Vernon Community School teacher led a Kindergartner to a bus that he was not assigned to and he ended up wandering the streets of Arlandria lost and afraid. Some children found the boy and took him to a nearby apartment office, where the manager called the school for help. Instead of taking action to solve the problem, a secretary at Mount Vernon Community School gave out the cell phone of the boy’s mother. Now that a second incident has happened, the issue has become a source of embarrassment for the city.

"If it happens once, shame on you. But if it happens twice shame on me," said Vice Mayor Kerry Donley during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. "I want to find out what the heck is going on."

Administrators responded to the first incident by reformatting attendance data so that transportation information was presented on the same document as class information for each child. They also installed a series of animal logos on each school bus to create a sense of identity. The logic was that students were more likely to remember that they were on the lion bus or the shark bus, creating an extra layer of protection against the possibility that students might board the wrong bus. But some parents criticized the move as placing the burden of safety on the children, and attempting a quick fix for a systemic problem.

"Last week, I tried to bring this matter to the attention of the School Board, and I received an inadequate response," said Rodney Salinas, father of the Mount Vernon Community School Kindergarten student. "All I got were animal doodles on buses accompanied with ‘I’m sorry this happened to you and your family. We’re working on it.’ No discussion. No questions. No dialogue. No specific course of action."

SUPERINTENDENT MORTON Sherman has drafted a letter that will be sent to parents this week responding to the two incidents. In the letter, Sherman explains that all Kindergarten students will leave school with stickers indicating that they are Kindergartners. In addition, Sherman explained that all bus drivers have signed a letter of procedures affirming that they will not drop off any Kindergarten student unless a parent or designated adult is at the bus stop. In the letter, Sherman also announces the creation of a new work group to revise procedures for arrival and dismissal. The work group will consist of parents, teachers, bus drivers, administrators and after-school child-care providers.

"I have personally investigated these events and discovered some system-wide issues at several levels that must be addressed," Sherman wrote. "As a parent and grandparent, I understand the level of trust that is necessary to place your child in someone else’s care, and I want you to feel confident that your children are safe at school."