STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- Steubenville police are investigating after a 3-year-old boy was left alone on a school bus for more than three hours Wednesday.

Samantha Bilyou said during the time her son was forgotten, she had called the boy's teacher and even stopped by Pugliese West Elementary School, but school administrators said nothing about her son being unaccounted for.

Hours later, she was contacted by school administrators who said her son was found crying, alone on the school bus.

"They said that he had fallen asleep on the bus. The bus driver must not have seen him when he was doing his rounds and he was left over in the bus lot until about 12:45 until he came back to do his second round," Bilyou said. "He could have gotten off the bus somehow, wandered, not knowing where he was at, tried to walk home."

Bilyou said the driver parked the bus at 9:30 a.m. At 10 a.m., she called and talked to her son's teacher about his report card, but was never questioned about her son being absent. Soon after, she went to the school to drop off forms but again was not asked about where her son was.

She said it wasn't until 2 p.m. -- another 1 1/2 hours after the school figured out what happened -- that school officials notified her of the situation.

"I feel bad, but he should have done his job. That's his job to make sure the kids are there," Bilyou said.

Billyou filed a report with Steubenville police Thursday night. Calls to Steubenville City Schools administrators were not immediately returned Friday.

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