California teen hospitalized after extreme heat exposure on school bus

An autistic teen was rushed to hospital after suffering from severe dehydration following exposure to blistering heat on a California school bus.

Temperatures in Chula Vista reached an excruciating 97 degrees.

The teen’s mother said her son, who attends Hilltop High School in the San Diego County city, was repeatedly left sitting on a bus that had no air conditioning.

Marisol Wojciechowski said her son Gabriel, a freshman, gets out of school about 30 minutes before other students because he has special needs — and then has to wait on the bus in extreme temperatures for other students to join him.

Wojciechowski said her son isn’t able to communicate when he’s feeling too hot because of his autism.

In early September, during a heat wave, she first noticed Gabriel wasn’t feeling well. His symptoms were severe.

“He had nosebleeds, really bad headaches and he didn’t want to do nothing. And then when he would get off the bus, he was lightheaded and I was like, ‘are you okay?’” Wojciechowski told NBC San Diego. “Right away I would put ice pack on him on his neck and gave him water.”

Wojciechowski eventually took Gabriel to the emergency room after he repeatedly experienced the symptoms.

“He was very dehydrated. They had to keep him there to give him IV fluids,” she told NBC San Diego. Wojciechowski also experienced the conditions on the bus for herself.

“The bus driver was telling me that once he’s released to him, he couldn’t get off the bus. And I was like, ‘no.’ I got on the bus and said ‘Gabriel, go get in the car. Sit in the car. There’s air conditioning and I’ll be right there,’” Wojciechowski told NBC San Diego.

Wojciechowski added that the bus driver told her it was normal for students to sit on the bus in those high temperatures.

She is now asking her son’s school district to take additional safety precautions to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“I want them to put the kids first. Leaving them on the bus is not safe, not even for five minutes during the heat,” Wojciechowski told NBC San Diego.

The California Post reached out to the superintendent of the Sweetwater Union High School District for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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