Shelby Boivin is a quiet girl with inquisitive, hazel eyes and light brown hair. The three year old has trouble speaking, and can only softly say parts of words.

Shelby had no way to call for help Monday, June 1, when she was left on a school bus with closed windows for nearly three hours.

No one knew Shelby was missing until she didn’t get off at her bus stop, where her mother, Jennifer, was waiting.

After a flurry of calls between the after-school bus driver and the district’s transportation department, Shelby was found at the district’s bus depot — across the street from her stop.

District policy regarding special needs students has redundancy built in. Three employees should have noted Shelby on the bus or her absence at school. But instead she sat on the bus, strapped into her seat.

The district fired the driver who left Shelby on the bus, and it is reviewing its transportation and attendance policies.

“Obviously the system failed,” Boivin said.

She has discussed what happened with district officials, but said she hasn’t received many answers.

“I still don’t know why this happened,” she said.

Three district employees failed to follow policy.

Bus drivers are required to perform pre-trip and post-trip inspections of their vehicles. The driver who picked Shelby up did not do this.

When the bus arrives at Snoqualmie Elementary School, teacher aides are supposed to take special needs students off. Shelby was overlooked.

At SES, the classroom teacher is supposed to take attendance and notify the administration of any absent students. The administration is supposed to call parents of absent children. Shelby’s teacher didn’t note her absence, and the administration never called Boivin.

Instead, Boivin went about her day.

“I passed that bus barn so many times during that day and never thought [Shelby] was there,” she said.

As she does every day, Boivin met the bus at Shelby’s stop.

The after-school driver seemed surprised to see her because the school had told him Shelby wasn’t in that day, she said.

Boivin could feel panic creeping in.

“As soon as he said ‘Where’s Shelby?’, I was like, ‘Who do I call? 911? The school?” Boivin recalled.

The driver told the dispatch operator that Shelby had last been seen getting on a district bus that morning.

After a few minutes, dispatch told the driver Shelby had been located and to have Boivin call the bus depot. She rushed to the bus barn across the road, where she found a slightly shaken up Shelby. Her bangs were matted to her forehead by sweat and her face was red.

Shelby was “throwing a fit and hot,” Boivin said.

They went to the doctor’s office, but first, “I just wanted to hold her for a little while,” she said.

Shelby’s “a stubborn and tough little girl,” who’s already endured nearly 20 surgeries, her mother said.

The next day, Tuesday, Shelby was on the bus.

“Eventually she’s going to have to ride the bus again. My theory is ‘why not now?’” Boivin said.

She goes to the bus stop a little earlier now, and still wonders if Shelby will be on the bus, she said.

However, she has not received many answers from meeting with the district, which did agree to call her when Shelby arrived at school and when she was leaving school.

The teacher told Boivin she thought Shelby had moved to the afternoon program, and didn’t realize she was supposed to be in class.

Boivin said she had left a message with the school asking about switching Shelby to the afternoon program next year, but had never heard back from anyone at the school.

If Shelby had changed programs, her teacher would have been officially notified, Boivin said.

The district did not comment on the matter.

It is “looking at the procedures to determine whether they are the right procedures and if they were followed,” a district spokeswoman said.

No disciplinary action has been taken against any employees except for the driver.

The district’s response has frustrated Boivin to almost pulling Shelby out of school.

“But I know it wouldn’t be fair to Shelby,” she said.