An 8-year-old Edgewood girl was left to wander lost in a strange neighborhood after she was dropped off at the wrong bus stop on her way home Monday, her mother reported.
Kayla Edwards, who attends William Paca/Old Post Road Elementary School, was supposed to be on a new bus route Monday after her family moved from Abingdon to Edgewood and requested a new bus stop location.
Her mother, Nichole Edwards, said Kayla's teacher overlooked the change and put her on the wrong bus.
She was then dropped off in an unfamiliar neighborhood in Edgewood, even though the girl told the bus driver, "I don't live here."
Kayla ended up walking almost a mile before she gave up. She was ultimately able to call home after she ran into a man who let her use a cell phone.
"Thank God it was a good man," Nichole Edwards said.
The girl was not injured or hurt, and Sheriff's Office deputies picked her up about 1 1/2 hours after she was dropped off.
Harford County Public Schools spokeswoman Teri Kranefeld confirmed that Kayla's family had requested a new bus stop that was supposed to go into effect Monday.
On Friday, "the effective date on the change order was misinterpreted by the teacher and the bus driver," Kranefeld wrote in an email. "With that said, as this is a personnel matter, this situation is currently being reviewed by the Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) Transportation Department and the school to ensure that this type of incident does not occur again."