Girl Left Home Alone After Gas Leak Closes Mashpee School

MASHPEE (CBS) – A school bus mix up left a little girl home alone and her father blames the Mashpee School District for the mistake.

The 9-year-old girl was in class at Quashnet Elementary School when the school was forced to evacuate Tuesday.

Charlie Schmalz had to take Bella to work Wednesday after the school was closed for the second day in a row.

"I have full confidence that while the kids are at school, that they're taken care of, and sometimes these kind of things happen," Schmalz said.

On Tuesday, the school was evacuated when natural gas was detected inside. Through social media and reverse 911 calls, parents were notified. If a parent couldn't make it to school, the child was bused to the high school.

Schmalz says his daughter was dropped off at his home with no adult there. "Until about 2:30, three o'clock, when my other son got home from school that was when I realized she had been home alone all day," Schmalz said.

Plumbers fixed the natural gas problem Tuesday, but on Wednesday, there was a carbon monoxide problem apparently caused by old duct-work.

The town will notify parents if the school is open on Thursday.