First Student employed the driver and monitor aboard the bus where 7-year-old Ngone Talla became unresponsive during her ride home.
CINCINNATI, Ohio — The death of a 7-year-old Cincinnati Public Schools student aboard a privately operated school bus is focusing attention on the transportation contractor responsible for the vehicle and its staff as authorities investigate what happened during the girl’s ride home.
Ngone Talla, a second grader at Roselawn Condon School, died Sept. 16 after becoming unresponsive in her wheelchair on a bus operated by First Student. The company is one of several private vendors Cincinnati Public Schools uses for pupil transportation. District information says its transportation vendors own their vehicles and employ the drivers and attendants who work aboard them.
First Student employed both the driver and the bus monitor involved in Ngone’s trip, according to information released by Cincinnati Public Schools and reporting by WLWT. Authorities have not accused either employee of wrongdoing. Investigators have also not publicly established when the adults aboard the bus realized Ngone was unresponsive or whether they noticed a medical problem before reaching her home.
Ngone’s family said the bus remained outside their home for about 10 minutes without the usual rear-door and wheelchair-ramp procedure. Family members then went outside and learned she was not responding. Emergency help was summoned, and Ngone was taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office said Ngone had an extensive medical history, including cerebral palsy, and found no traumatic injuries or signs of physical harm related to her death. A final cause of death has not been publicly announced. Police are conducting a death investigation, and officials have not established that any equipment, restraint or action by transportation workers caused her death.
First Student said it was deeply saddened by the student’s death and was fully cooperating with local authorities and Cincinnati Public Schools. The company has declined to provide additional details while the investigation is active. Questions about exactly when the driver and monitor noticed Ngone’s condition have remained unanswered publicly.
The case also highlights Cincinnati Public Schools’ reliance on outside companies to move students. The district says elementary students are primarily transported on yellow buses and identifies First Student, Universal Transportation Systems, Petermann, EverDriven and Kemper Shuttles among its transportation vendors. Those contractors own the vehicles and employ drivers and attendants, while the district oversees a broader transportation system serving its students.
Public contracting records show the district continued a multimillion-dollar transportation agreement with First Student for the 2026-27 school year. An August district treasurer record listed a First Student transportation agreement valued at about $5.29 million in the fifth year of a five-year term, with two possible one-year renewals. That contract existed before Ngone’s death, and no public information has linked its terms to the circumstances of her case.
The district has not announced whether Ngone’s death will lead to changes in transportation procedures, staffing or contractor oversight. Cincinnati Public Schools said its immediate response included deploying its Crisis Response Unit to Roselawn Condon School to assist students and employees after her death.
For investigators, the immediate focus remains the events of Sept. 16 rather than broader conclusions about the transportation system. Authorities still have not publicly released a complete timeline of Ngone’s trip, the point at which she became unresponsive or a final medical determination explaining her death.
First Student and the school district say they are cooperating with the investigation. Until police and the coroner complete their work, questions about what happened aboard the bus and whether any transportation procedures played a role remain unresolved.
Author note: Last updated September 20, 2026.