SCIPIO CENTER - Joe Ineich knew what he had to do to keep himself safe.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Joe Ienich, a second-grader at Emily Howland Elementary School, will be honored at the school on Thursday for his bravery. Ienich was mistakenly dropped off by a school bus at his empty house in January, and had to walk a mile in the cold to his aunt's home.
Joe Ienich, a second-grader at Emily Howland Elementary School, will be honored at the school on Thursday for his bravery. Ienich was mistakenly dropped off by a school bus at his empty house in January, and had to walk a mile in the cold to his aunt's home.
On Jan. 15, Joe, 8, of Scipio Center, decided to walk more than a mile by himself to his aunt's house in the bitter cold and just before dusk after a substitute bus driver from the Southern Cayuga Central School District mistakenly dropped him off at his home where no one was there, instead of his daycare provider during the afternoon bus route.
“I went to the neighbor's, but the door was frozen,” said Joe, a second grader at Emily Howland Elementary. “So I went to the other neighbor's and it looked like no one was home. Then I kept on walking.”
Along the way to his aunt's house, Joe walked along a narrow street as the sun set, was chased by dogs and was stopped by a man in a car asking him if he needed a ride.
Joe just kept walking.
“I was angry and scared but then I got over it,” Joe said. “I wasn't scared anymore. I was scared when the dog was chasing me. I wasn't too scared when the guy stopped.”
Joe is being honored for his bravery during an assembly today at Emily Howland Elementary School. According to Kathy Ineich, Joe's mother, the district has documentation stating that Joe is to be dropped off everyday at his daycare provider's home unless she tells the school otherwise. The regular bus driver knows this, she said, but that information was not passed along to the substitute.
Joe said he knows he is not supposed to be dropped off at home, but figured that Kathy had called the school at the last minute. He questioned why Kathy's car was not in the driveway, he said, and got scared when he realized the house door was locked. It was at that point he knew what he had to do.
“I was on my own,” he said.
After learning about the incident, Kathy contacted a teacher at Emily Howland who then contacted Principal Mary Lou Cronin and eventually reached Superintendent Mary Kay Worth.
“Of course the situation was very scary,” Worth said. “It was a very scary situation. Thank goodness it turned out OK in the end and Joey was safe and he did get to his aunt's home.
“But then I started asking the questions ‘Why? What happened? Why? What do we need to do to go forward?'”
Worth spoke to district officials and asked Kathy for her input to make sure this never happens again.
Kathy offered some suggestions, and is looking for the implementation of a standard process for substitute bus drivers.
“My main motivation is to help this not happen to any other child for his or her own safety,” she said. “Something may have happened to (Joe). We were lucky. Maybe I need to be the one to raise a stir to have some changes made.”
And changes were made just days after the incident. Bus drivers are no longer allowed to drop a kindergarten through fourth grade student off without making visual contact with an adult. The district is providing standard checklists for regular and substitute bus drivers to use for routes as well as standardizing notes to improve communication.
“We get things from parents that say 'Go to Grandma's house,' but not with an address,” she said. “Those things are now on a standardized form to improve communication.
“We're constantly assessing it and seeking to do better. We absolutely want to deliver the kids home and get them to school safely.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
“I went to the neighbor's, but the door was frozen,” said Joe, a second grader at Emily Howland Elementary. “So I went to the other neighbor's and it looked like no one was home. Then I kept on walking.”
Along the way to his aunt's house, Joe walked along a narrow street as the sun set, was chased by dogs and was stopped by a man in a car asking him if he needed a ride.
Joe just kept walking.
“I was angry and scared but then I got over it,” Joe said. “I wasn't scared anymore. I was scared when the dog was chasing me. I wasn't too scared when the guy stopped.”
Joe is being honored for his bravery during an assembly today at Emily Howland Elementary School. According to Kathy Ineich, Joe's mother, the district has documentation stating that Joe is to be dropped off everyday at his daycare provider's home unless she tells the school otherwise. The regular bus driver knows this, she said, but that information was not passed along to the substitute.
Joe said he knows he is not supposed to be dropped off at home, but figured that Kathy had called the school at the last minute. He questioned why Kathy's car was not in the driveway, he said, and got scared when he realized the house door was locked. It was at that point he knew what he had to do.
“I was on my own,” he said.
After learning about the incident, Kathy contacted a teacher at Emily Howland who then contacted Principal Mary Lou Cronin and eventually reached Superintendent Mary Kay Worth.
“Of course the situation was very scary,” Worth said. “It was a very scary situation. Thank goodness it turned out OK in the end and Joey was safe and he did get to his aunt's home.
“But then I started asking the questions ‘Why? What happened? Why? What do we need to do to go forward?'”
Worth spoke to district officials and asked Kathy for her input to make sure this never happens again.
Kathy offered some suggestions, and is looking for the implementation of a standard process for substitute bus drivers.
“My main motivation is to help this not happen to any other child for his or her own safety,” she said. “Something may have happened to (Joe). We were lucky. Maybe I need to be the one to raise a stir to have some changes made.”
And changes were made just days after the incident. Bus drivers are no longer allowed to drop a kindergarten through fourth grade student off without making visual contact with an adult. The district is providing standard checklists for regular and substitute bus drivers to use for routes as well as standardizing notes to improve communication.
“We get things from parents that say 'Go to Grandma's house,' but not with an address,” she said. “Those things are now on a standardized form to improve communication.
“We're constantly assessing it and seeking to do better. We absolutely want to deliver the kids home and get them to school safely.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
