First and second grade boys get into a stranger's car after making a mistake at the bus stop

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The problem may be related to the closure of a school in Riviera Beach. While that building is under construction, another school will take in the students.

So there is a huge influx of new children and many of them have to be dropped off at bus stops that are unfamiliar to the drivers.

West Riviera Elementary School is in the middle of a major renovation. The work will not be completed until October 2025. In the meantime, over 500 students have been relocated to other schools.

So far, it has been difficult to get them back home by bus and due to the situation that arose earlier this week, parents are very concerned that bus drivers may put their children in danger.

“My son loves learning new things, so he was excited about first grade and all the new things he would learn that would be different from kindergarten,” Courtney Wilcox told the I-Team. “But he learned a life lesson, a lesson about safety.”

Christopher and Rayden-Key are cousins. When their mothers Courtney and Ashley took the must-have first day of school photo, the boys were thrilled to be starting their first and second days of school.

But when school ended, the smile disappeared.

“My nephew came to the car with tears running down his face,” said Ashley Wilcox.

The sisters thought there might be some problems at the beginning of the school year because Riviera West Elementary School is closed and there is an influx of these students to Lincoln Elementary.

More than just a minor hiccup, there have been two incidents so far where Christopher and Rayden-Key have almost gotten lost on the way home. On the first day, the boys weren't sure which bus to get on, so a school principal gave them a ride in her car. The next day, they got on a bus after school, but the bus driver dropped them off at a place they didn't recognize.

“You know these kids are not getting off at this stop. You know that, and if you don't know, you have to find out where they are going. You can't just shoo them off the bus,” Ashley Wilcox said.

The first and second grade boys weren't sure what to do next. They accepted a ride from a man in a car. The driver recognized them and knew they lived in the same neighborhood, but the boys weren't quite sure who he was.

Desperate and frightened, they got into his car anyway.

“I tell him right now: Don't ever do that again. Don't ever do that again. But I'm going to have to continue this conversation with him as he gets older so that in situations like this he has the discretion he needs to return home safely,” Courtney Wilcox said.

Now Courtney and Ashley tell the I-Team they are so unsettled that they don't want their boys to continue riding the bus.

They find a way to share the family car and re-arrange their working hours. It's inconvenient, but they say the trust is gone.

“I could hardly sleep last night because all I could think about was what could have happened. My son wouldn't have been able to come home. I went to school today and all they could do was tell me that the school police told me. I'm sorry,” said Courtney Wilcox.

See also: Woman charged with attempted murder during domestic dispute with neighbors: WPBPD

As of the time this story was published, the I-Team has not received a response from the school district's communications team.

CBS12 News will update this story once we receive a response.