Good Samaritan Helps School Bus Stranded in Clifton

Oak View Elementary School students were stranded on a bus for several hours yesterday due to flooding in Clifton, but a good Samaritan helped make their journey home a little easier.

“The worst part for the kids was that initially they weren’t able to get in touch with their parents,” said Oak View Elementary School parent Rob Jones. “And for the parents it was not knowing exactly where the bus was.”

The school bus was trapped on Chapel Road between Frosty Meadow and Clifton’s Main Streets for about two hours with about 30 elementary school students onboard. Flooding prevented the bus driver from moving the bus, and the driver is not allowed to let kids off the bus and onto the street.

Since the bus had been rerouted several times to avoid standing water, the driver was not sure of exactly where the bus had stopped and was unable to communicate a location for parents to pick up the students, Jones said.

One man, Roy Barrett, of Clifton came upon the bus as he was driving to his mother’s house.

“I stopped and I asked the driver, ‘Are you okay?’ and she said she couldn’t turn around the bus or move up the road,” Barrett, 30, said. “I asked her if she wanted to help calling their parents and started asking kids for their phone numbers.”

Barrett allowed the kids to make phone calls to their parents on his cell phone.

The children on the bus were antsy and spent their time talking and eating leftover snacks from lunchtime. Jones said that his 8-year-old daughter, Erin, told him that the driver was in control.

“She was worried only when she saw that they went a route that wasn’t toward home,” Jones said. “She also said there were kids who were crying and upset.”

Barrett made his way into town to the Main St. Pub’s General Store, where he picked up some water for the children after one of the kids said they were thirsty. He also went by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Station 16 on Chapel Road.

By that time, the water had receded somewhat and roads into town were better, Barrett said.

“The fireman showed up and they contacted whoever was in charge of the buses to get permission so that the driver would be able to go through the water,” Barrett said.

Barrett said that the bus had used up its batteries standing idly, so he also jump-started the bus before the driver moved through the water. The children were allowed to go to Clifton’s Town Hall and wait for their parents to pick them up.

Animal crackers were also given to the kids, who waited with the bus drivers and firefighters. Barrett stayed until every child was picked up. The last one left at about 8 p.m., he said.

“I just started to help,” Barrett said. “I have my son who is 5 and my daughter is 11 months. I just know that if they were in that situation, I would want someone to help them.”

Fairfax County was slammed with over five inches of rain yesterday. At least two deaths in Northern Virginia were blamed on the storm.

A 12-year-old Vienna boy was killed when he was swept away by the waters that flooded his own backyard. In a separate incident, a 67-year-old man was killed in the Great Falls area when he was swept downstream in his car, police said.

Jones said that the bus driver did her best with the situation she was in, but that he would have wanted to hear more communication from the school administration.

“I am perplexed as to why the students left the school,” Jones said. “I have not received any emails or calls from the school.”

Jones said that parents at Oak View hope to meet with school administrators to talk more about how decisions are made when school buses leave the property during storms.

A message sent to Fairfax County Public School officials was not immediately returned on Friday afternoon. All schools were closed on Friday due to the storm.

“It was a day not to endure again anytime soon,” Jones said.