When the school “Lost” my child (one of the scariest times in my life)

I took the day off to prepare for my daughter's birthday party on Oct. 2  Her regular bus driver did not pick her up that day.  He told the kids in advance that someone else was going to come to get them. So when the other driver arrived 30 minutes late, I didn't think much of it. My husband called me at 9:30 am saying that the school called him with an automatic message saying that My daughter  was not in school -- more than an hour and a half since I put her on the bus myself.  Naturally I was concerned so I called the school to find out where my daughter was and left a message because God forbid anyone pick up a phone. Ten minutes later I received an auto email telling me that my daughter was not in school. No one called me to tell me she was safe. That's when I began to panic. As I started driving to the school, I called the Superintendent's office and left a message over there letting them know that I thought my daughter was missing and that no one from Her school was getting back to me.  So by the time I get to The school  I'm in a full fledge freak out. If I got to the school and my daughter wasn't there, I was going to call the police and then my family and organize a manhunt for the bus driver and my daughter. 

When I got to the office, there was the secretary just sitting there. I explained to her what was going on and she said, "oh yes. She's here."  When I demanded to know why no one called me back, she responded "well, there were sixty kids involved. I don't have time to contact 60 families."  

I was too angry for words. It took me a moment to be able to even speak in a civil tone. I told her to have the principal call me. I thought my head was going to explode I was so pissed. So bottom line:  the school mistakenly told me my daughter was missing and no one had the professional courtesy to call me to tell me it was a mistake. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. With all the bus accidents and all the kidnappings  that are going on it is inexcusable and irresponsible of them to do what they did. The system, in my opinion is broken and they need to fix it.

Hours later, the principal called me to apologize to me and explained that it wasn't a perfect system. No kidding – now stop using that as an excuse and fix it the problem. In addition, the Superintendent’s office never called me back.