Some recent school bus mix-ups have a number of parents fuming and asking whether their children are safe.

In one incident, a five-year-old girl going to Forks Elementary in Northampton County was left on a school bus, according to her father.

The kindergartner wasn't found until more than an hour and a half later, crying.

According to school safety experts, these types of mix-ups happen but there are ways to prepare.

According to Chris Ferry, school psychologist and Executive Director of PA Community Programs for KidsPeace, parents should always have the number to the school's transportation department at either the local intermediate unit or the school district.

“The first thing they should do is call that transportation number because they'll say 'Yeah the bus is running 15 to 20 minutes late because of bad weather, the kids are still on the bus, they're just leaving the school now, there's a late dismissal.' All kinds of things can be handled and people's anxiety can be lowered in the process,” said Ferry.

For younger students, Ferry suggests adopting a buddy system on the bus with a neighbor who lives close by and for parents to get to know those same neighbors.

He also says younger children should always have their pertinent information with them in their backpack “To make sure....they have their phone numbers listed in their backpack, they have their address listed, they have cell phone numbers, they have an emergency contact number of a neighbor or an uncle or somebody like that,” Ferry said. 

As for older students, Ferry says cell phones are a great tool for teenagers to use in order to let their parents know when they've been dropped off by the school bus.

“Just having those open lines of communication will keep kids from possibly going with their friends somewhere else and then being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” added Ferry.