Autistic student left in hot school bus in Chula Vista

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (NBC, KYMA) - A Chula Vista, California mother said her 15-year-old son with autism was hospitalized for severe dehydration after repeatedly sitting on a school bus without air conditioning.

Gabriel's mom Marisol Wachowski said her son and a handful of his special needs classmates are released from school at least 30 minutes before the rest of the students.

She says they sit in stifling temperatures with no AC while they wait for the rest of the kids to join them on the bus, and with his autism, he typically doesn't complain, so he wouldn't tell her when something's wrong or when it's getting too hot.

She first noticed her son wasn't feeling well when he'd get home from school in early September during the last heat wave.

"Nosebleeds, really bad headaches. He didn't want to do nothing and then he would get off the bus. He was lightheaded and I was like, 'Are you okay?' So right away, I would put ice pack on him on his neck and give him water," Wachowski says.

After a few days of this, she took him to the emergency room.

"They told me he was very dehydrated. They had to keep him there to give him IV to give him fluids," she said.

The next day she drove to the school and says she felt the conditions he was sitting in for herself.

"He was drenched in sweat and the bus drivers telling me that once he's reduced to him, he couldn't get off the bus and I was like no. I got on the bus, I said, 'Gabriel, go get in the car, sit in the car, there's air conditioning, and I'll be right there.' And he's like, 'Okay, mommy.' Then, I asked the bus driver, is this a normal thing? Like, do you guys let them sit on the bus this long? And he goes, yeah, it's a normal thing."

She wants the Sweetwater Union High School District to change its policies.

"I want them to put the kids first. Leaving them on the bus is not safe. Not even for five minutes during the heat," she expressed.

The district has yet to respond to KNSD's requests for comment.