A bus driver who left an Auburn student sleeping on his bus was fired Wednesday.

Doug Buchanan, a Laidlaw bus driver for East Middle School, delivered students to school Wednesday morning, then drove to a local restaurant where he exited the bus to have breakfast.

But Buchanan did not observe that a student was asleep on one of the seats in the rear of the bus. As soon as the student was discovered and returned to the middle school, company officials were notified and Laidlaw immediately terminated Buchanan.

That Buchanan was able to leave the bus without spotting the student concerns bus company officials. Not only are bus drivers trained to check the seats after each run, but buses are equipped with an alarm system that is designed to prevent drivers from overlooking students. The Child Checkmate System, developed by Laidlaw, consists of an alarm that is connected to the ignition and requires bus drivers to deactivate the system by pushing a button located on the rear wall of the bus. "If drivers do not deactivate the system properly, then the lights will go on and the horn will go off," Laidlaw District Manager David Kinley said. "It is a driver warning system and seems to work well."

Kinley does not know how Buchanan was able to exit the bus without setting off the alarm.

"Upon return to the terminal, we had a mechanic go out and check the system," Kinley said. "Everything was functioning properly, so at this time, we are unsure why it did not go off."

Auburn assistant superintendent J.D. Pabis said it is common for bus drivers to recover gloves and book bags, but he's never heard of a student being left behind.

"It is important to do a sweep of the buses to avoid situations like this one," Pabis said. "There is a procedure that the district already has in place to check for kids, hats, gloves and whatever else. I would believe that it is followed on a daily basis."

Laidlaw contracts with the Auburn Enlarged School District and provides transportation to kindergarten through fifth-graders who live more than a mile from school, middle school students who live more than 1 1/2 miles, and high school students who live more than two miles from school.

Laidlaw requires mandatory background checks of its drivers, and in addition to being taught how to use the checkmate system, all drivers are provided with child awareness and driving training.

The system failure concerns Laidlaw officials, but they were pleased with the way the incident was handled.

"All the necessary procedures were followed," Kinley said. "The school and parents were contacted. And more importantly, the student was returned safe."

Staff writer Ashley Lipsky can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 235

or ashley.lipsky@lee.net