A school bus driver is being investigated after she left several students about 10 blocks from their school Monday morning.

  • Students, sixth grade through 12th grade, left on 39th Avenue North
  • They walked about 10 blocks to Lealman Innovation Academy
  • District says protocol was not followed

St. Petersburg Police said the driver left the students on 39th Avenue North, blocks away from Lealman Innovation Academy.

Police said they ranged from sixth grade to 12th grade.

The driver cited safety reasons as the reason she left the students, who walked the rest of the way to school. All of the students were accounted for.

In a 911 call released Tuesday afternoon, the driver mentioned a "chemical smell" as the reason she pulled over.

The school district said the driver will not be allowed to transport students to or from school during the investigation.

The school called parents whose kids were on the bus and sent an email to all parents at the school.

"Regardless of safety concerns that a driver may experience on their way to or from school, we have the expectation that all drivers stay with our students, and that expectation and that policy was not followed in this incident and we will be investigating to determine appropriate next steps," Lisa Wolf, Spokeswoman for the Pinellas County School District, said.

The driver has not been charged by police.

Nykiese Green, 13, was one of the 24 students on the bus.

"She pulled over and told everybody get off the bus, and she grabbed her things and got off the bus and left the bus running," Green said.

Green said the students decided to walk to school. He said it took about 10 minutes to walk the more than half a mile and that the students were late to class.

Green's mom, Caprisha Cummings, said anything could have happened to the kids while walking to school.

"Kidnapped, wreck, anything," Cummings said. "So it's mind boggling to know that bus drivers would actually do that. So now I am scared. Should my son ride the bus? Should I take him to school every day now?"