AR - Unattended Six-Year-Old Walks Away From School

sorry if this is in the wrong place

When you drop your kids off at elementary school, you expect they'll stay there until you pick them up. That was not the case in Cabot. Now, a couple is speaking out, after their six-year-old son left school by himself and walked more than a mile in the pouring rain.
Adrian George is in kindergarten at Northside Elementary school in Cabot. His parents, Heather and Justin, don't even allow him to play in the front yard by himself. So you can imagine how upset they are knowing Adrian walked more than a mile by himself Monday in the pouring rain.
"The teacher didn't know he was gone. They thought he went to the office to look at some fish. They had no idea, no idea, that he was gone," said Heather George.
Because Adrian didn't want to sleep during naptime, he was sent to the office to look at the aquarium. However, he never made it to the office or the aquarium, and instead walked out the doors by himself.
"I come up, and someone was beating on door. It was a lady with realty company. I never saw her in my life and Adrian was standing next to her soaking wet," said Heather George.
Heather says getting hit by a car is only one problem. "There's sex offenders, they could have picked him up. He could have been kidnapped."
"I'm just glad he made it home safely," said Justin George. FOX16 did call Northside Elementary school to see if the superintendent would go on camera. We were told they had no comment.
http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=b7439921-8a1b-4420-8399-69aa0b29f4c7&rss=315

http://www.cwarkansas.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=b7439921-8a1b-4420-8399-69aa0b29f4c7

While I feel for the parents, a school setting is not prison. Most elementary schools do not have posted guards at the entrance, and if the child was headed for the office and just decided to travel home, who was there to stop him?

I don't know our school system has always had phones in place and intercoms and they always call the office. But thats here and I am curious to see if they will be implementing safe gaurds now. You figure the teacher would have known something after he didn't return when nap time was over

All schools have intercom systems. You would think the teacher would notify the office he was on his way. When he didn't get to the office in a reasonable amount of time you would think the office would have called the teacher to ask what was going on..he never made it..at which point they would have known to start looking for him..

If that's how the incident happened the school board of Cabot needs to implement some simple changes that could save a child's life. In my city every grade from K to 12th has guards at the front doors of the schools. (All other doors are locked. No child can get out without a parent or guardian. And if they arrive to school late, they have to signed in WITH their parent or guardian.

I don't know that the schools can lock them to prohibit people from getting out due to fire laws but I know the lock all the ones but the one by the office to keep people from getting in. we also have the sign in and out sheets and I think the teachers aids walk the little ones like pre-k and k to the office

We have the sign in sheets too Al_B, even for high school.

our high school doesn't to my surprise when I picked up my daughter for illness she was sitting outside

WOW! Thank God he is ok.. My kids elementary school has buzzers at the door. You can't get in without being buzzed in from the office. They have a camera right at the front door so when you ring the buzzer they check to see who it is before letting you in. To leave the school would almost be impossible since you have to go basically through the front office to do that. My daughters highschool does roll call every period and the attendance sheet is sent to the office and verified at the beginning of each class..I know it works wonders because that is how I found out my daughter and her friend skipped 2nd period hiding in the bathroom because they didnt do their homework and didnt want to get a zero.. I got a phone call telling me she was not in 2nd period and obviously I did not sign her out so by the time I got to the high school the 3rd period bell rang and here comes my girl and her friend protruding from the girls room...someone got in some trouble that night lol.. :doh:

Our school system isn't safe at all. I'm one of those parents who will pull my kid out of school for a rock concert or whatever I deem necessary (she's honor roll anyway, so it's not affecting her grades.) Ever since she was in elementary school, I could just walk on campus and get her - if I felt like it, I'd sign her out. The only thing they do is an automated call at about 9pm that says a computer generated name of your kid and "was not in school today." That's it.

If your kid didn't show up for school at 7am due to being kidnapped, no one would tell you until 9pm.

DeltaDawn said:

All schools have intercom systems. You would think the teacher would notify the office he was on his way. When he didn't get to the office in a reasonable amount of time you would think the office would have called the teacher to ask what was going on..he never made it..at which point they would have known to start looking for him..

Click to expand...

FYI: As a former teacher, I can tell you: for two years our intercom system did not work throughout the "buildings"; for the five years I was in a "mobile unit," I had no intercom system; and teachers are told NOT to use the intercom except in cases of DIRE EMERGENCY (i.e. there had better be blood!).
While I was teaching in a high school, this was the situation for the ENTIRE COUNTY (which included three elementary schools and one middle school).
Teachers at the high school this year tell me the intercom system is not working at all again.

Our school is locked from the outside after 8:00 A.M. so visitors must come to the door by the office to be let in. However, the doors still open from inside so you can exit by any door. It would be a fire hazard if they didn't. A teacher can't always walk a child to the office and leave the class unattended, but it seems like a good idea to at least stand in the door and watch to see that a six year old is going the right direction. Students often take lunch reports and various things to the office. I am surprised someone didn't see him and take him home or to the police station. I am sure things will change at the school so this doesn't happen again.

Seriously????

Um, hello! You don't send a 6yo wandering around the school alone!

If they need to go to the clinic or the library or back to the bathroom during playground time, they walk with a buddy. If he doesn't feel like taking a nap (WTF are 6yos doing taking a nap anyway???) then give him a book or something quiet to do.

When that child comes into the school, he is the teacher's responsibility. I was never allowed to leave my first graders unattended. When they went into the bathroom as a group, I stood outside, and you can bet your *advertiser censored* I'd walk into the boys' room if I heard them goofing around.

Our school has doors where you have to be buzzed in. Anyone can walk out for fire safety, but it makes a big noise and there is a receptionist. You can't get in any other way. A child walking around in the halls, especially a little one, would be noticed by the teachers whose classrooms are near the doors.

When I think of what could have happened to this child, it makes me ill. This is just as bad as caregivers who leave a child in a car or bus. NO DIFFERENCE!!! They weren't supervising him and he could have died.

Idiots.

I think it would be fairly easy for a student just to walk out of school, even with all the security. Our schools have locked doors, buzzers, and cameras, but that is mainly to protect students against people getting in. We also have the automated call system, although elementary schools do call home in the morning to ask about absences.

At the high school level, it's harder to skip. Attendance is taken each period and put in the computer. Any teacher or administrator can check that student's daily attendance. So if it's 7th period and Kayla isn't in class, but everybody says she was here earlier, I can check to see if it's just my class she's missing. Then, I can call attendance or the office (or just email) to figure out if she got signed out. If not, a security guard or police officer (there are lots of them at our large high school) can search around to find the kid. There are cameras everywhere, too, so you can see if someone has left the building. But usually kids just try to hide out in the bathroom. It's hard to skip at the high school, but I think an elementary school kid could easily walk out without anybody noticing.

My son had nap time in kindergarten, he didn't take naps but he did have to lay quietly. As far as having a buddy to make sure he gets where he is going-who's gonna watch the buddy while he is supposed to be returning to class? I don't like the thought of the children being locked into the school-that sounds almost as dangerous to me. I'm very upset that this child was able to walk right out of the school, and things do need to change, but I think they need to be sure that the changes won't cause even more problems before they are implemented.

We had a first-grader walk away from my daughter's elementary school last year, on the last day of school. It was a half-day, and of course it was chaotic... buses and parents coming to pick up at a different time of day, lots of changed schedules, plus the general chaos and party atmosphere that the last day of school brings. This child walked a couple of miles down a very busy, high traffic road with lots of fast food restaurants, banks, and gas stations and walked up the on-ramp to the interstate... it was really shocking. Someone finally called the police and said there was a child on the on-ramp, and they came and picked him up. Apparently he was confused as to whether he should be attending daycare that day or not, and when no one directed him, he just started to walk home (unfortunately in the wrong direction). I just tried to find the link and didn't turn it up quickly but I will post it if I can find it.

I can see how it happened, but that doesn't make it ok, YKWIM?

Does it say anywhere how long he was gone from the school?

Honestly it sounds to me like this was a lack in judgement on the boys and teachers part and not something that the school can really prevent. The kid should be punished because unless he has something mentally wrong with him he should know better than to leave the school. The article stated that his parents do not even allow him to play outside by himself at home so he knows better. He is 6 not 3. Walk out the door I could even see but by walking away from the school...yeah, he knew he was doing something wrong and did it anyways. I hope that the parents are not so busy trying to blame someone else that they forget to put blame where it is most due. The teacher also should have not sent him wandering around since it was not something he had to do (like the bathroom) and she should have known something was up when he did not return.

The school? I don't see what else they can do other than deal with the teachers misjudgement and the childs. They can not lock the doors from the inside because what happens the day the threat is on the inside of the school (a fire or a kid that brings a gun to school) and the kids can not get out? Teachers can not walk one child around because then it leaves the 20 or so other kids unattended and then they could all walk out or worse. Most schools have cameras now but no one can watch them every second on the off chance that a child will try to walk out. Even working with special education kids I can honestly say that I can not think of a single time in the past 4 years that a child has tried to leave school (elementary mind you).

In my opinion the parents should be grateful that their child is OK and take everything he enjoys or has ever enjoyed away form him for a very long time.

***I am having a bad kid day though so maybe I am just in a mean mood ***

Absolutely, SLP. Most children know that once you go to school, you stay there until you're released for the day. Where is the common sense here?

ok I just found on my son's school's website they do have phones in the class room and which is what I thought and the teachers call the office when they are sending a student down or the office calls when they need picked up. I know that the kindergarten classrooms have a restroom in the classroom as well so they aren't out wondering the halls they have tv's for announcements and I know the doors lock from the outside so no one gets in. This story really worried me as I have a 6 year old boy and his school is located on a very busy road(it's a speed trap road) there are also at least 2 adults in the class room as well . I can post the link to our school system. My son goes all day to school but there are also am and pm half day classes for his grade. Our school has several doors too all over the school.I really don't however see a way for a child to escape the without knowing about it.(high school not so sure if I trust it ,but can't see my kids trying to get someone to call them out or off cause I am picky about attendence,you go sick and if you are that sick they will send you home)
I am going to check to see if this school has a website and see if they show pix of how classrooms are set up .Here's the school I believe
http://cabot.k12.ar.us/Schools/cabotns/index.htm
great schools rating http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ar/244 also has how many students and they have a lot of teachers per grade and it only goes to fourth