Kid in car

Amanda and Patrick McKinley are both still waiting for a reason why their 4-year-old child was left in a school van Monday afternoon.

Amanda McKinley said her son, Caleb, was attending summer school at Odessa Christian School when he was left in his car seat after a field trip.

"They overlooked my child," Amanda McKinley said at Medical Center Hospital. "They were all eating lunch when a parent heard him screaming and that's how they found out he was still in the car."

Odessa Christian School director Shona Wood said Tuesday a lot of rumors about the 4-year-old child being left in a school bus on Monday have been overblown.

"I've heard a lot of rumors," she said. "The child wasn't left in the bus for two hours like some of the rumors have said."

Wood said a child had been left in his car seat for 10 minutes after they returned from Vacation Bible School at Eisenhower Church.

"We took the children on a field trip yesterday, and one of the kids got left in his car seat after everybody else got off," Wood said.

Amanda McKinley said medics at the scene said Caleb had to be in the van for more than 10 minutes.

Wood said the school called for medics after the child was "still very hot and started shivering."

Amanda McKinley said her son was taken to Medical Center Hospital Monday night after his temperature was above normal.

Caleb is currently hooked up to a Gaymar Medi-Thermil II Hyper/Hepothermia, a machine that has a blanket that helps cool or heat up body temperature.

"People in the E.R. said they only use this machine once a year," Patrick McKinley said. "They were putting cold rags and pouring ice on him because they couldn't get the machine fast enough."

Meanwhile, Wood said the two teachers who were involved in the field trip were suspended for a week without pay. Wood declined to name the two suspended teachers.

Amanda McKinley said the suspension was merely "a week vacation" for the teachers involved.

Odessa Police Department spokeman Sherrie Carruth said the police filed only an information report because the child was already taken off the bus when officers arrived.

"Whoever was responsible could've been given a ticket for endangering a child if the child had still been in the car," Carruth said. "We were called after the child was taken out of the car, though."

The Monday afternoon incident has also led to new rules for when teachers at the school leave a bus, Wood said.

"We've implemented new procedures because of this," Wood said. "This won't happen again."

Despite the new rules, Amanda McKinley, a teacher, said she's not taking a chance at her child being harmed again.

"I enrolled him to pre-k at the school," she said. "I'm staying home to watch my newborn anyways so I guess I'll teach him myself."