FRYEBURG, Maine — An MSAD 72 elementary school student who was being transported to an out-of-district placement school by a substitute van driver went missing for several frantic hours on Wednesday morning but eventually turned up safely. The school superintendent said the situation is concerning and that the transportation company will no longer be used.
MSAD 72 covers the Maine towns of Fryeburg, Denmark, Sweden, Lovell, Stoneham and Stow, as well as Chatham.
The girl’s mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, posted on a private local Facebook page saying that her special needs child went missing for six hours on the way to an out-of-district placement school in the Augusta, Maine, area. The post has been widely shared.
“Yesterday, my elementary age daughter was picked up by a back-up driver and was missing for six hours. When she did not arrive at her out-of-district school placement, they called me and informed her home district of Fryeburg,” said the parent.
“A police report was filed (by myself, MSAD 72 and her out-of-district placement), and an hour later, a missing child investigation started,” the mother said.
She continued, “The Oxford County sheriff was swift in action, and I’m grateful for their support, and she has returned home. But (it was) very concerning the district allowed students to be transported home by this service while aware of what was ongoing. What occurred to my child is horrific, but to allow children to continue to be transported while this is ongoing is negligent, and I feel obliged to inform.”
MSAD 72 Superintendent Jay Robinson spoke to the Sun Thursday. He said the girl arrived in Monmouth around noon. Pineview Learning Center, a special purpose private school serving children with developmental disabilities, is in Monmouth, a town about an hour and a half’s drive from Fryeburg.
“When we received information that the child had not arrived at the destination, that’s when we started making phone calls to the company providing the transportation to the school, and to the police eventually,” said Robinson.
“It’s a terrible situation to be in when you think that a child is supposed to be arriving at a given destination and that doesn’t happen. You’re, of course, concerned, and we’re going to investigate that,” Robinson said.
The district contracted the driver from the First Student Bus Co.
Robinson said it’s “distressing” when the van is unaccounted for over an hour and the driver can’t be reached by phone. Robinson said the district will stop using the company transport students.
“When you get to a point where you have to involve the police to find the vehicle that’s transporting one of your children, that’s not a good situation,” said Robinson, adding the school board has been notified.
On Friday, a notice went out saying the MSAD 72 school board has called an emergency meeting on Monday, Dec. 8, at 5 p.m. in the Molly Ockett School gym in Fryeburg.
Regarding the incident, the parent told the Sun the regular driver, who was scheduled to pick up her daughter at 6:20 a.m., cancelled. The backup driver arrived at 7:40 a.m. The girl was supposed to arrive at a school in Monmouth at 9:10 a.m.
The mother shared an email exchange in which she told school officials the driver and her daughter were apparently found in Lewiston, which is not on the way to school but is by the driver’s home, which she believes to be a Maine refugee center.
She showed the Sun a photo of his license, and the address is for the Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services in Lewiston.
She says maybe he got lost and went home for help. She said the driver spoke no English.
First Student in an email said: “At First Student, there is nothing more important than the safety of the students we transport. Unfortunately, a substitute driver lost GPS and cellphone connection, which resulted in a loss of communication.”
“The First Alt (special needs) vehicle was stuck behind heavy traffic on the highway for several hours and unable to place a call to dispatch. We deeply regret the concern this caused.”
On Thursday, Emily Buckley of First Student’s communications team, emailed the Sun: “All of our drivers for First Student and First Alt are fully vetted. They must pass pre-employment background checks and exams in addition to state-specific requirements. Our company hiring processes are applied consistently throughout all of our locations and are compliant with federal, state and local laws”.
She continued: “First Student requires MVR (motor vehicle records check), criminal records check, a pre-employment legal substances exam, and employment and residency checks. For Maine, drivers are required to be fingerprinted, which processes through the Maine Educator Information System for clearance.
“The driver has held a valid Maine driver’s license since 2024. The driver met with local authorities and we are fully cooperating with law enforcement,” Buckley said.
The child’s mother said her daughter arrived at the school around 1 p.m. She said police started a missing person search around 11 a.m. She said it’s unclear to her when they were located in Lewiston.
On Thursday, Robinson released a statement saying: “With respect to transportation of students, we only utilize drivers once we have done thorough background checks. While our preference is to always hire our own drivers, when we don’t have drivers available to drive students who need out-of-district programming, we have to use all available options to maintain continuity of programming for students.
“This is not done to save money, as using our own drivers is more cost-effective; it is done because we do not have available applicants for open positions and it is vitally important to make sure students have access to their programming. Any company that we work with to provide transportation also has to meet the same level of background checks that we use with our own employees,” he said.
Oxford County Sheriff’s Maj. Dana Thompson emailed Thursday: “There is an active ongoing investigation at this time; therefore, I have nothing to release about it at this time.”
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