All Day Alone on a Bus?

Last week in Hartford, Connecticut an atrocity was perpetrated on a four year old autistic preschool student. According to the Hartford Courant article, All Day Alone on Bus, the nonverbal preschool student was one of four special education students being dropped off at Burr Elementary School in Hartford. He fail to exit the bus and was consequently left alone in the bus yard from the time the morning run ended until the driver re boarded the bus to begin his/her afternoon run at 2pm.
What a disgraceful reflection on the bus company, monitor service, Burr Elementary School and the state of special education in inner city schools. I work in a suburban school system in Connecticut and can tell you that this would never happen there. The bus monitor and the driver of the bus were consequently fired. But as far as I can tell, the school received a slap on the wrist. They are now required to call and find out why a child is not in school. Something teachers and office staff of suburban schools have been required to do for a very long time. I know inner city schools are over crowded and under staffed, but to mishandle a situation of this magnitude is inexcusable. The child is non-verbal. Can you imagine how devastated a typical 4 year old would be in that situation? I cannot even fathom how scared that child must have been and what kind of trauma the incident caused to that child.