RARITAN TOWNSHIP, New Jersey, USA: The driver who left a four-year-old autistic boy on a school bus for five hours in midsummer heat was fired on July 22 by the Hunterdon Central Regional Board of Education.

John Davis, 57, had been suspended since the July 7 incident. He has been charged with abandonment and neglect of a child, and could face up to 18 months in jail and a US$10,000 fine, if convicted.

He had worked for the district for just over a year, said Lee Seitz, superintendent of the regional district

The boy was treated at a hospital for heat exhaustion and released that day, police said.

"Every driver should know to check the bus for kids after the drop-off. The procedures are reinforced constantly," Seitz said.

The school board is considering a system which would require the drivers to check the bus after students are left at school, including a device that would sound an alarm if a button is not pushed at the back of the bus, Seitz said.

The child was among a group of about 10 students in a summer programme for children with disabilities, but failed to leave the 24-passenger bus when it dropped them at the Copper Hill Elementary School in Raritan.

The driver then parked the bus at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, with the boy buckled to a child safety seat, while temperatures climbed to 85 degrees.

He was discovered by Copper Hill staff when the bus returned there at about 1 pm.

(Source: The Associated Press, July 22, 2003)