Terrifying Morning: Mother demanding answers after daughter never makes it to school

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- There were heart-pounding moments Thursday morning for Kelli Monahan after her 11-year-old daughter never made it to Mariana Bracetti Academy, where she attends school in Philadelphia.

"She's crying. Hysterically crying,'" Monahan recalls in an exclusive interview with Action News.

A substitute driver picked up her daughter and a 9-year-old girl, but says she seemed lost.

Monahan tracked her daughter with Life360 and showed us the confusing route the driver took -- nowhere near the school.

Her daughter says the driver even asked where to go.

"The bus driver said she didn't know what school they went to. Why would you ask the student?" said Monahan.

Instead of going to school, the bus came to McPherson Square, near the heart of Kensington, known for drugs and crime.

Monahan rushed to the area and found her daughter still on the bus.

"My daughter's on the bus crying hysterically, 'Mommy, mommy, mommy,'" recalled the mother.

Eventually, police got there, and Monahan was reunited with her traumatized daughter.

But why did the driver end up nearly two miles from school? Action News was there as she went to the company, First Student, to get answers.

"They weren't trying to cooperate. I asked who the manager was, [and] they don't know who the manager is. There's different supervisors for everything," recalled Monahan of her conversation.

Meanwhile, she says her daughter is scarred from the experience, with a week left of school

"She's scared. She's begging me, 'Mommy, please don't ever put me on the bus again,'" said Monahan.

First Student has not yet responded to our request for comment.