Nansemond-Suffolk Academy should have handled the situation differently after a 5-year-old boy was left on his school bus, his grandmother says.

Portsmouth resident Susan Bunn said her grandson awoke to find himself alone on his bus, which was parked and locked at its driver’s Lake Prince Drive address Monday morning.

She said he did not want to be late for class, so he knocked on the door of the nearest home to ask for a ride to school.

“He figured out a way to get out of the bus … and he went to the closest house that, thankfully, was the bus driver’s house,” she said.

The boy realized it was his bus driver when she opened the door, Bunn said.

Bunn said the boy was returned to the school unharmed.

NSA spokeswoman Ashley Greene declined to confirm any specifics of the incident, citing a “personnel situation.”

“We did have a driver who failed to follow the proper transportation protocols,” Greene said. “The driver was terminated. I really don’t have any details that I can add.”

Bunn said she was unsure how her grandson had been overlooked and then left on the bus.

The boy was traumatized by the incident, she said. “When my son picked him up that afternoon, he did not want to talk about what went on,” she said, adding he still hasn’t opened up.

“Can you imagine being 5 years old and waking up alone? This is his first year on the bus — he only started this fall.”

Bunn said she related the incident on NSA’s Facebook page to make other parents aware of it. The post wasn’t worded in a malicious manner, she said.

“It stayed up about one hour and 40 minutes before somebody took it down,” Bunn said.

Greene responded, “As far as messaging in public forums, everyone has their own personal ability to do that.”

Greene declined to provide a copy of or describe NSA protocols for bus drivers, describing it as an internal document.

“There are protocols as far as students on the bus (and) students getting off the bus; those are pretty standard protocols,” Greene said.

She said NSA will “make sure we review and reiterate those protocols” with bus drivers.

“We want to make sure we are doing everything we can for the safety and security of students,” she said.

But Bunn says NSA should be more open about what occurred.

“I’m very upset,” she said. “I feel like they are trying to keep it from other parents, and I don’t think that’s fair to the children at NSA — and I certainly don’t think it’s fair to the parents.”