A 6-year-old girl was placed on the wrong school bus after classes at Maricopa Elementary School and transported to a different campus, leaving her unaccounted for about 90 minutes and prompting a police search, confirm city and school district officials.
The girl’s mother, Emily Murre, wrote on Facebook that she is “absolutely disgusted,” calling the episode “a catastrophic failure of basic safety protocols” at the Maricopa Unified School District campus.
“What happened recently was not a simple mistake; it was a catastrophic failure of basic safety protocols that put my daughter in danger,” Murre wrote.
Murre said that when her spouse contacted the school, staff “couldn’t even confirm if my daughter had been present that day, let alone her current location.”
“Their absolute inability to account for a child in their care is unconscionable,” she wrote. “Their lack of immediate information forced me to do what no parent should ever have to do: I called 911.”
According to Murre’s account, police located the child about 30 minutes after the call, but the family believes the girl was “unaccounted for, for an estimated 90 minutes.”
She wrote that the situation escalated when a person at the unrelated school took the child back to Maricopa Elementary in a private vehicle.
“A complete stranger from the incorrect school transported my daughter back to her original school in their private vehicle; again without the knowledge or our consent,” wrote Murre. “The school’s narrative is a sickening cover-up; MES states the driver of bus simply turned around, a claim my daughter denies and which the school is clearly trying to hide.”
Murre said a front office staff member “retrieved my daughter from a parking lot and walked her to the office to meet the police officer — the officer never even met the person who transported her.”
In a written statement, district spokeswoman Mishell Terry said Maricopa Unified officials are aware of the concerns being shared online and have opened a review.
“Maricopa Unified School District is aware of concerns circulating on social media regarding a reported transportation incident involving a student at Maricopa Elementary School. While we cannot share student-specific information, student safety is our priority,” said Terry. “District and school administration are actively reviewing the circumstances and will examine all aspects of the report to identify any procedural issues and address them.”
Murre said her children are now being kept home and that she and her spouse “have already begun process of notarizing an Affidavit of Intent,” a likely first step to removing the student from the school district.
“The Principal’s response to this incident has been unhelpful and entirely lacked genuine remorse,” Murre wrote. “It is notable that the school only contacted us after the Superintendent was engaged.”
The post drew a wave of responses from other parents and community members, some sharing similar stories and others urging changes to school transportation practices.
One parent, Ria Willie, recalled her own child’s bus mix-up years earlier, writing, “It was a nightmare!”
Another commenter, Joe Campbell, urged cooperation but acknowledged the fear such incidents can cause.
“It happens, it was an accident. A scary one, but still an accident,” Campbell wrote. “Use this as an example to teach your child situational awareness. … Lets all work together to make a better system on all fronts.”
Others focused on safety measures parents now feel compelled to take. “I keep a tracker in my son’s shoes for this exact reason,” wrote Deion Jones Glass.
Some shared experiences they said were similar to Murre’s. One commenter, identified as Kelsey Baggett, said problems in school transportation are not new, including a case in which her young child was let off at the wrong stop and could not be located for more than an hour.
Another parent, Chelsy Davis, wrote that her children were once “dropped my kids off miles away from home,” adding, “They are extremely reckless when it comes to the kids.”
