CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A student's absence after she was hit by a school bus was hauntingly obvious as children headed home from Clear Creek Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon.

Parents said they have many unanswered questions one day after 5-year-old Tyisha Witherspoon was hit while she road her bike. The kindergartener was trapped under the school bus and critically injured.

"How could the student just all of the sudden be there and (the bus driver) not see it?" asked parent Sheri Butler.

The accident happened just before 5 p.m. near the girl’s home along Aventide Lane in east Charlotte. On Tuesday a counselor met with classmates at her school.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools spokeswoman Katherine Johansen said parents also need to speak with their children

"They've probably got tons of concerns, ‘Is this going to happen to me?’ So it's just healthy to talk to your kids," she said.

Johansen wouldn't talk about the investigation into the crash because it's ongoing, but police said they have not decided if the driver will be charged. He has been suspended with pay for the duration of the investigation.

Witherspoon is in critical condition at Carolinas Medical Center.

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