DECATUR, Ga. — A Decatur mom said her 5-year-old son was missing more than an hour before school officials determined he had somehow made his way onto a bus to a day camp.
Kenyetta Obie said last Monday she dropped her kindergartner off at Winonna Park Elementary. But when it was time to pick him up, her worst nightmare became her reality - her child wasn't there.
"I immediately thought the worst," she said. "I thought maybe somebody had taken him or maybe possibly been hit by a car, since it's on a busy street."
"When I saw everybody pull out their radios, I assumed he was missing," she added. "Nobody was in a panic. I felt like the only one who was in a panic was me."
Obie said teachers and staff members joined her in looking for her son at the school, but she claims more than an hour went by before he was located.
"When they finally saw the cameras, they see him getting on the bus," she explained. "Where was the supervision? Why was he even able to get on the bus?"
The City Schools Decatur said the bus her child was on belonged to an after-school provider.
"He would've never gotten on the bus if he wasn't told to," Obie said.
She felt more could have been done, and said her son won't be returning to that school.
"I don't feel like it was an emergency for them," she said. "The doors were still wide open when they were looking for him. The school day was still going on as if it was a normal day. My fear is just dropping him off and his safety isn't being assured."
11Alive reached out to the school district about the mom's claims and they provided a statement saying they are looking into the situation and trying to determine how this can be avoided in the future.
Read the full statement below:
On October 21, during dismissal, a Winnona Park Elementary student regularly picked up as a car rider got on an afterschool provider’s bus. The provider then drove away from the school without verifying that the student was a registered attendee of this program. The school is reviewing internal dismissal protocols to determine what happened and how this can be avoided in the future. The school has also spoken to the afterschool provider about improving their processes and implementing daily roster verification.
The after-school program Obie's son was brought to, Camp Scene, has been providing summer day camp to Decatur families for a decade. In a conversation over the phone, they told 11Alive school staff is responsible for loading students into their buses.
Camp Scene said the timeline the mother provided is much shorter and they understand the severity of the situation.
Read the full statement below:
On Oct. 21, a student who was not enrolled in our camp was loaded on our bus in error from the school during dismissal, which begins at 2:30 p.m. We spoke with the school before 3 p.m. about the child's location after arrival at camp. According to the public record notes of the officer accompanying the mother, she was united with her child at 3:08 p.m. We understand that not knowing the location of your child for any amount of time must be scary and difficult.
Our longstanding policies, adapted in coordination with the schools several years ago, recognized the school's primary role in dismissal and included roster verification upon unloading at our location. We look forward to working with the school district on changes announced this week.
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