‘What if it was my own?’: Deputies investigating after Covington student dies on school bus

We now know a Kentwood High School student died after being found unconscious on a school bus.

It happened around 8 a.m. at Mattson Middle School. The King County Sheriff’s Office said that the student was found unconscious after getting on board. Police and paramedics tried to save the student but they died anyway.

KCSO and the Kent School District declined to answer any more questions about the death.

Mattson Middle School parents say they only heard from the District this morning when they got a text around 8 a.m.

“The text message said there was a medical emergency and the students are safe,” said Khumar, whose daughters attend Mattson Middle School.

Khumar said she got that text along with a video from her husband of the scene while he was dropping their daughters off at school. In the video, you can see first responders filling the middle school’s parking lot.

“He thought that somebody was on the floor and they were doing CPR,” said Khumar. “I saw a lot of police in the morning and the fire trucks and stuff so I was kind of scared.”

She and other parents learned from KIRO 7′s crew at the scene that CPR was being performed on a student.

The student was initially found unconscious on the school bus. King County investigators are calling it a suspicious death.

“That’s very sad to me that that could happen,“ said Mattson Middle School parent Connie Taylor. “What if it was my own?”

Parents thought the student was from a different school.

“They [Mattson students] were told the student was not from Mattson,” said Khumar. “That was another school student.”

Parents believed they should have been told sooner that a student died, as it happened while their kids were walking into school.

“Just mixed emotions,” said Khumar. “It should have been mentioned in the text or like we should be aware of it.”

Taylor said she wanted to make sure her kids were safe.

“We don’t know what’s going on and it’s just very disheartening and you want to make sure you’re kids are safe when they’re going to school,” said Taylor.

KCSO investigates all deaths of a minor as suspicious.

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