ODESSA, Texas — Liliana Gallegos started Tuesday morning the same way she always does, taking her kids to school.
"Yesterday around 7:10, 7:15 a.m., I usually drop off my five-year-old at the bus stop, which is right around the corner," Gallegos said. "At around 7:30 a.m., I sent my daughter's teacher a message telling her I had sent some school snacks."
The text she got back from her Pre-K teacher at Lamar Early Education Elementary took her by surprise.
"She sent me a message saying 'did the bus come or are you bringing her in'," Gallegos said.
After that message, she got a shocking call.
"I received a phone call from school transportation that my daughter was found in the bus screaming and yelling for help," Gallegos said.
She said her daughter was left on the bus, forgotten, for nearly an hour after the driver dropped all the students off at school. The driver returned the bus back to Ector County ISD's bus barn.
"She did say that she woke up and she noticed that nobody was there," Gallegos said. "I asked her 'what did you do next?' She said, 'I started crying for you and I started looking out the window yelling for help.'"
The little girl's mother said her daughter was found by a worker at the bus barn.
"She heard what she thought was cats fighting, and she started to look around, and that it was my daughter," Gallegos said. "I couldn't believe it was happening to me, I couldn't believe it was happening to my daughter."
Today, she chose to keep her daughter home from school because she's still shaken up.
"I'm scared honestly to leave my daughter," Gallegos said. "I know it had nothing to do with the school, but just the thought of anything else happening to my daughter would be just devastating to me as a mother to our family."
Now the family wants to know how their daughter was left on the bus.
"The driver or the assistant of the driver could have walked down the aisle and checked every seat," Gallegos said. "She said she's OK, but a 5-year-old does not see how bad it could have been. It could have been worse. I thank God my daughter is okay, but it's something I'll never forget."
Newswest 9 reached out to ECISD about the situation.
The district confirmed the little girl was left on the bus Tuesday morning and they called it unacceptable. ECISD told us they have several steps in place to make sure this doesn’t happen.
They also said some employees have been put on leave while the district continues to investigate.