Harford County boy at center of kitten rescue speaks out in support of school bus driver
For 10-year-old Alex Thomas, the bond with a kitten named Brookie began the moment he spotted her in the middle of the road while on his way to North Harford Elementary School.
The kitten got her name from her coloring, which reminded Alex of cookies and brownies.
"The kitten was like the size of a bag of Utz party mix. Like this big. She could fit in your hands," Thomas said.
Alex said his bus driver, 67-year-old Cynthia Morgan, pulled over and let him off the bus to rescue the tiny kitten.
"She turned on the back lights things, opened up the door and she had the stop sign out and everything. And so what she did was she let me walk out and grab the kitten and then walk back on the bus," Thomas said. "The kitten pooped on the bus. A big stinky one on the floor."
Rescue came at a cost
Morgan was removed from her Harford County Public Schools bus route after the incident for violating protocol.
"I was absolutely gutted by how she was treated. That nobody contacted me, nobody talked to Alex, nobody talked to any of the other parents before the decision was made to let her go," said Alex's mother, Taffy Thomas.
Plea for school bus driver's reinstatement
Now, Alex and his mother are joining thousands of others who have signed a petition calling for Morgan to be reinstated.
"She's been his driver since kindergarten. And she goes out of her way for these kids to get to know them," Taffy Thomas said. "I never thought my child was in danger. I was never concerned. It never even crossed my mind that she would put him in danger."
Alex turns 11 next month, and he has a few birthday wishes.
The first is a plea to the public.
"I don't think we should focus on the what-ifs and focus on what really happened," he said.
The second is a plea to the school district.
"To bring back Ms. Cynthia because she did nothing wrong," Alex said.
And the third?
"If my dad is watching this, we need to get the kitten!" he said.
Harford County schools respond
Harford County Public Schools declined to comment on a personnel matter but said in a statement last week that "certification and decertification of a bus driver is not always based on a single incident."
When asked whether the district planned to reconsider its decision to remove Morgan from the route, officials referred CBS News Baltimore back to that statement.
Harford County School Board President Lauren Paige defended the district's decision in a statement, saying, in part, "We must evaluate situations involving student transportation not only by the intentions behind an action, but also by the potential risks involved. Allowing a student to exit a school bus and enter a roadway to retrieve an unfamiliar animal raises legitimate safety concerns…It is important to remember that good intentions and sound safety decisions are not always the same."
