A 5-year-old Covedale Elementary School student was missing for more than two hours after her Cincinnati Public Schools bus driver dropped her at the wrong stop, according to her family. Jalessa Ceaser reportedly walked about a mile alone, crossed a street, and was chased by a dog before she was found about 0.9 miles from the wrong stop where she had been dropped off.
According to FOX19, Jalessa and another child, Anastasiya, had just started riding the bus home from school together on October 13, though the two girls ride separate buses. On the day of the incident, Anastasiya was dropped off on time, but Jalessa never arrived at her designated stop at the Boys & Girls Club in Price Hill, per her stepmother, Valarie Conner.
Conner said she was initially told Jalessa's bus was running behind schedule and that the scheduled drop-off time was 2:36 p.m. She was later told the driver was just three to four minutes away — but Jalessa never showed up at that stop at all.
A Mile Alone, a Dog Chase, and a Frantic Search
Instead, Jalessa was dropped off at the wrong stop in the 4200 block of Delridge Drive, Conner told the outlet. From there, the family says the kindergartner walked roughly a mile by herself, crossing a street and getting chased by a dog along the way, before she was eventually found at the intersection of Padretti and Mayhew avenues in Delhi Township, according to her parents.
Per Apple Maps, the spot where Jalessa was found sits about 0.9 miles from the drop-off point — a walk the mapping service estimates takes roughly 21 minutes. The family says the school principal joined in the search for the missing girl, who was gone for more than two hours before she was located safe.
School District Says Driver Mistook Jalessa for Another Child
Cincinnati Public Schools said the driver released Jalessa at the wrong stop after mistaking her for another student and failed to follow required route-verification procedures, the district told FOX19. The bus provider has since terminated the driver's employment, according to the district.
CPS said it has been in communication with the transportation provider and has directed the company to reinforce procedures around student attendance, stop verification, and authorized-adult drop-offs with its drivers. The district also said it was relieved Jalessa was found safe and acknowledged the fear her family experienced.
Under Cincinnati Public Schools policy, kindergarten students and those with special needs receiving curb-to-curb service are not supposed to be dropped off unless an authorized adult is there to supervise — unless a parent or guardian has specifically requested an unsupervised arrangement through the district's Focus system. The policy also states that students are generally assigned the same stop in the morning and afternoon, five days a week, unless specific restrictions apply.
Lingering Fear and Unanswered Questions
Conner said Jalessa has struggled with sleep and has been crying since the ordeal, and now becomes paranoid around buses, begging her family not to put her on one. The family says it's still seeking answers about exactly how the bus-stop mix-up happened in the first place.
The district's own transportation page describes its services as built around a “Safety First” concept, noting that bus drivers are supposed to be scrutinized, trained and licensed in accordance with state and national regulations. CPS also says it notifies parents by automatic phone calls when yellow buses run 15 minutes or more behind schedule.
This incident follows a rockier stretch for CPS transportation broadly. The district's own two-tier transportation system rolled out at the start of the school year, but WCPO has reported families and teachers describing buses showing up hours late or not at all, with one student at the Spencer Center saying his afternoon bus often wouldn't arrive until 4:15 p.m. or later despite a roughly 3:45 p.m. dismissal. A teacher at the Academy of World Languages told the station students sometimes stayed under staff supervision until 4:30 or 5 p.m. waiting on buses that never came, delays the district attributed in part to staffing issues at vendor Universal Transportation Systems.
Not an Isolated Problem Nationally
Cincinnati isn't the only city grappling with bus drop-off errors involving young children this month. In Cleveland, a 6-year-old girl was dropped off by her school bus nearly 40 minutes early with no parent waiting, according to the bus company and her mother; a stranger found her crying and walking alone on busy Kinsman Road after she said she was lost, Cleveland 19 News reported. That bus company, Rightway Transportation, said the early drop-off violated company policy, disciplined the driver and removed her from the route, then required additional in-service safety training for all drivers focused on safely releasing kindergarten and first-grade students.
A similar mix-up played out in Natick, Massachusetts, where a 10-year-old fifth-grader was dropped off about three miles from his home after boarding a late bus for the first time following woodworking club, according to WCVB. Natick Public Schools said it was investigating that incident and working to strengthen its student-safety practices.
Ohio's own regulatory framework requires that school bus drivers follow stop and safety procedures laid out in the Ohio Revised Code and Ohio Administrative Code, with each bus required to carry a detailed route sheet, according to codes.ohio.gov. Separately, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce has recommended that districts conduct safety audits of their bus routes, stops and pickup and drop-off sites — a review Jalessa's family may hope comes sooner rather than later in Cincinnati.
