There was confusion, anger and shock.
This is how Cecilia Willis felt when her neighbor told her that Isiah, her 5-year-old son, was walking home alone from school.
“She was like, ‘He said he was walking.’ And I was like ‘Whoa.’ I know how far I live from the school, so he never walked home.
After a 5-year-old student was forced to walk home from school, the principal of a Lee County school said she was sorry and would change security measures at the school. The child’s mother called Fox 4 to say her son, who attends kindergarten at Tropic Isles Elementary School, has walked nearly 4 miles to get home.
“You’re going to release a 5-year-old to just walk down a road and wander off?” It does not make any sense.”
Maid the headlines:
That distance is about 3.5 miles. Not to mention all the busy intersections.
“When the neighbor found him, he was completely dehydrated,” said Willis. “He just asked for some water, he was thirsty.”
Mom said Isiah would take the bus on Wednesday. Mom asked the school to have his grandma pick him up on Tuesday the day before. Instead, they listed him as a walker and he met her around the corner. That seems to be where the confusion comes from.
Isiah was supposed to ride the bus home from school on Wednesday, but by the time school was over, he was marked as a walker. So he walked.
“She had marked him as a walker when he was supposed to take the bus to daycare,” said Willis.
Fox 4 sent an email to Lee School officials to find out what happened. A spokesman for the district said it was a mistake and the director will meet with the mother today to explain. The meeting ended with apologies and changes in school practices.
The district says the school will make changes to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“It’s just unacceptable for them to release him without an adult.”
The school district has not said who will be disciplined. But they told us that the principal took responsibility and apologized to the student’s parent.
