The Liberty County School System is reviewing an incident involving two siblings from Frank Long Elementary School who were mistakenly placed on the wrong school bus Friday and later got off the bus at the wrong stop.

As a precaution, the students’ bookbags had been tagged with transportation information. Despite this safeguard, the students boarded the wrong bus, which had a substitute bus driver that day, and left Frank Long Elementary School at approximately 2:37 p.m. During the route, the students got off the bus at a stop that was not their assigned stop. After the family notified the district that the students had not arrived at their intended destination, district officials and local law enforcement began canvassing the area where the students were believed to have left the bus. The students were located at approximately 3:58 p.m.

Law enforcement took them back to Frank Long Elementary School, where they were safely reunited with their guardian.

“The safety of every student is our highest priority,” school system officials. “We are deeply concerned about this occurrence and are carefully reviewing our transportation and dismissal procedures, with particular attention to safeguards for our youngest students. We care about our students and are committed to identifying additional measures to help prevent a situation like this from occurring in the future.”

District officials have reached out to the students’ guardians to check on the children, offer continued support, and reaffirm the district’s commitment to addressing this matter.

The Liberty County School System is conducting a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the incident and will use its findings to strengthen procedures related to student transportation, bus assignments, stop verification, and communication.

School board members also approved the purchase of five new buses for a total of $796,000. Two of the buses will be 78-passenger vehicles and the other three will be special needs buses. All five will be air conditioned.

Each bus will have a five-year bumper-tobumper warranty, a fiveyear powertrain warranty, a backup camera, digital surveillance systems and a collision mitigation system. The buses are expected to be delivered to the school system in January 2027.

The cost will be split between the state Department of Education and the school system’s education special purpose local option sales tax proceeds. Over the last six years, system officials pointed out, more than 60 buses have been bought, reducing the average age of buses on routes to eight years.