BENTONVILLE -- The Bentonville School District has answered a lawsuit filed against it and school officials regarding a 5-year-old boy who was left for hours alone on a school bus.
Michael and Michella Carpenter, the boy's parents, are suing the district; Superintendent Debbie Jones; School Board members; Jason Salmons, the district's transportation director; Jodi Cunningham, a district route system specialist; and Jane Doe, an unknown district employee.
Scott Strauss, an attorney for the defendants, filed the response to the lawsuit Nov. 21, saying the defendants are immune from all suits and liability.
The response denies many of the allegations in the lawsuit, claims the plaintiffs are not entitled to any punitive damages and asks the judge to dismiss the suit and require the Carpenters to pay for any costs expended due to the lawsuit.
The case is assigned to Benton County Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz.
Charles Carpenter, a kindergartner at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, got on the bus just after 6 a.m. Sept. 19. Michael Carpenter watched as his son got on the bus and was greeted by a woman who wasn't the regular driver and who checked his name off the regular passenger list, according to the complaint.
Michella Carpenter was notified in a call almost five hours later from Salmons that her son hadn't gotten off the bus. She was told he was at the transportation yard, the lawsuit states.
Charles was dehydrated, sweaty and had urinated on himself when he was found on the bus, his mother said at the board's Sept. 20 meeting. The boy was later taken to the emergency room.
Charles has also been affected psychologically by the incident, according to the lawsuit. It says he exhibits distrust of adults other than his parents, refuses to ride the bus to school and has to be driven to school by his parents. He also has had difficulty sleeping, according to the suit.
The lawsuit claims the driver failed to follow policy and search the bus for children before leaving the vehicle. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages for the child's physical injuries and the mental anguish he suffered from being left on the bus, according to the suit.