HISD students: Field trip bus left us at Renaissance Festival

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Parents of some students at HISD's High School Ahead Academy were angry Tuesday night that their children arrived four hours late from a field trip.

"They just left our kids there," said mother Vakeisha Adams, angrily.

The 7th grade students spent the day at the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville, but the return trip didn't go quite as planned.

"It was fun while it lasted until we left. That was the bad part," said Keseanna Smith, 13.

Students from the school at 53209 Yale in north Houston tell Eyewitness News when they were supposed to meet to leave the festival, two students were unaccounted for and the bus driver didn't want to wait while school officials looked for them. Some students returned on the first bus. HISD sent a second bus to get the remaining kids. That bus arrived around 7:45pm -- about 4 hours late.

"They were saying that they weren't there. They weren't there at the time they needed to be there so their decision was just to leave them because they weren't there?" questioned Adams.

School officials declined to answer our questions while on campus, but an HISD spokesperson later issued the following statement:

A spokesperson for the Texas Renaissance Festival tells Eyewitness News the festival is always able to handle situations like this one. Cory Brock, director of marketing, wrote in an email that security officers and management are on site working to secure the festival grounds. "In situations like this, we can help anyone left behind and contact their parents or friends who brought them," Brock wrote. "We can let them stay inside our office (if there is bad weather) and have plenty of food and water for them while they wait for the pickup. Restrooms are open as well. We also have taxi services on call as well if they would like to use that."

If this happens again, the spokesperson urged concerned parents or other guardians to contact the festival or the Todd Mission Police Department.