PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — An elementary school in Pontiac is facing scrutiny after a 5-year-old student got out of his kindergarten classroom and was found wandering a nearby street.
This happened last Monday at Walt Whitman Elementary on Montcalm Avenue.
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The kindergartner, who has autism and is nonverbal, was later seen on social media playing in storm water without shoes, socks or pants on. The child was discovered by neighbors on Hillside Drive near Burt Avenue behind the school.
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The Oakland County Sheriff's Office is now investigating the matter.
"It was quite a few of us. We was all very upset about this. Something like this should never happen, especially at a school," said neighbor Lakeisha Jones.
Jones lives near the area where the child was found last Monday. She says she rushed home after seeing several neighbors gathering in front of her home on her security cameras, only to discover there was an unattended child.
"I was at work. I work at a hospital, but my cameras kept going off and I seen all these people out here and I’m like, 'what’s going on?' My initial reaction was, I thought it was something wrong with my mom," said Jones.
The mother of the 5-year-old student told 7 News Detroit off camera that her son is in a classroom of fewer than 10 students with three teachers.
The mother says she got a call from the school nearly two hours after her son went missing. She says administrators only told her that her son had gotten out and was back in class, but no further details. She says it wasn't until she got on social media later that day that she saw her 5-year-old had wandered onto a street, played in stormwater and was only wearing a jacket and a diaper at the time.
Neighbors say the boy was outside for more than 30 minutes and had been nearly hit by two vehicles. Neighbors who discovered the boy began filming for Facebook, trying to locate a parent or guardian.
"That is just devastating to me, to anybody, their baby out there like this? Unattended like that. Anything could have happened to him. They said he was going toward the street in the beginning. How about if he would have turned instead of keeping straight?" said Jones, who was still upset about the incident a week later.
7 News Detroit reached out to the Pontiac School District one day after the incident happened for an interview with the superintendent and again a week later. However, the district declined both. They sent over the following statement:
The Pontiac School District is aware of a video shared through social media that purports to show a student who left a school building this week. An investigation into the matter is ongoing.
The wellbeing of our students remains our highest priority, and we are giving this matter our full attention. We appreciate our families’ continued support as we work to ensure instructional continuity and maintain a safe, respectful learning environment.
We cannot provide additional information at this time."
Neighbors say there needs to be accountability from the district.
"How can you make it better? The situation done already happened. You can’t erase that. Thank God the community was here and somebody was here to get the little boy to safety," said Jones. "It’s so much stuff happening at these schools nowadays it’s crazy that you can’t even go to work and take your kids to childcare or take your kid to a school and you’re worried about something like this happening to your child."
The mother of that 5 year old has obtained an attorney and is now reviewing her options for taking legal action.
