April 18, 2019
(CMR) A George Town Primary parent has filed an official police complaint after she discovered that her year one; 5-year-old son was permitted to accidentally leave the school compound unsupervised and traverse on busy Eastern Avenue. It appears the child left after no one was supervising him and was in the room with him and he wanted to find his way home.
Cayman Marl Road was contacted on Tuesday evening shortly after the incident occurred by a concerned family member indicating that the parents were besides themselves about the matter.
Cayman Marl Road has since contacted primary sources for the story. This morning we then conducted a site visit; video taping the journey that the year one child would have taken in an attempt to find his way home.
We have been informed that the child was scheduled to attend an after school program that runs from 3:00 – 5:30 pm. Normally the child's father would have picked him up before 5:00 pm from that program. However, on this occasion the The after school program was cancelled with notice on Monday evening due to the teacher's illness.
The parents were then told by the teacher that everything would be fine for Tuesday and Wednesday. However, on Tuesday at 2:55 pm a phone call was received to inform the parent that the teacher was still out ill and there would be no after school program again. The mother then requested if the child could attend the YMCA program instead; given the short notice. We understand that the child actually has another sibling that attends that program.
However, at 3:13 pm another call was received to inform the parent it was not possible to do so because they require written consent forms; which had not been completed for him.
At that time the decision was made to allow him to remain in the office with the school secretary until his father could collect him. The deputy principal took the children to the administrative office and left him in the care of the school's secretary; where he was placed at a table.
The parent was later informed that several students were taken to the office and parents were to be notified of the cancellation and to collect their children from the office secretary. That phone call was not received. It was further disclosed that the secretary indicated she was not able to watch the children when they were being left in the office. The mother is unaware of who took the children to the office and who was ultimately responsible for their supervision. She has been made aware that at least one other older child was with him at the time.
At some point after 4:00 pm the mother of the child received a phone call that her child had been found passing Reflections on the corner of Eastern Avenue and Sound Rd. attempting to make his way home. It was later discovered that at least 4 persons witnessed the child making his journey home; but were unsure of what was going on.
CMR sources indicate that the when the parents collected the child and went to the school they were informed that “everyone was in the conference room” – including the principal, deputy principal and some other staff members. They were surprised to discover that the child was no longer in the office and had been found roaming the streets – quite some distance away.
CMR walked the length of Eastern Avenue that the child would have walked this morning and interesting enough several current and past parents have now contacted us regarding their own children in similar circumstances. One parent shared:
“Oh. Please!!! My son used to just walk off that campus and head to my grandmother's house all the time. He left that school three or four times when he was a first year student.
He walked school house road to Mary's street, then crossed busy Shedden road to cut through to my grandmother's house. They are so full of shit! Which teacher didn't miss a student?”
Another parent sent us an email where she had complained about the same issue back in 2017:
“What??!!!!….the school officials telling lies!!!! I can attest to that for a fact! The receptionist told my child to walk to my grand mothers house after he requested to make a phone call to myself and have me collect him from school…….receptionist name is XXX”
I had to say to the PTA and the principal that in her role there are no limitations as she is required to assist in areas…..mainly administrative as best as she can but she wont even take a damn message. And tell you straight on the phone….its not part of her job description!!!
CMR has reached out to the ministry for comment on this story and will be discussing the matter on our evening podcast The Cold Hard Truth this evening at 7:00 pm.
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