A Forsyth County school bus driver was terminated effectively as of December 16th, 2016, after leaving a 6 year old student unattended on a local highway. Shelley McKinley, the driver, was not the bus route’s regular driver and was not used to the circumstances of individual students. McKinley has been a bus driver for three years prior to the incident.

The 6 year old in question went to Cumming Elementary School. After some time on the side of the highway, she was discovered by a civilian driver and taken to a nearby sheriff’s office. The county wants to make sure this never occurs again and it is cognizant of the intense threat to the student’s safety that this situation posed.

Many students will drive to and from school at Lambert High School. However, there is a considerable amount of younger students and a smaller amount of older students that still utilize the bus system. High school aged students are trusted to be more responsible for themselves than students in kindergarten and do not need a receiving party to depart from the bus.