School lets 6-year-old walk home alone without permission; parents, babysitter still seek answers

A 6-year-old boy was allowed to walk home alone without parental permission from a Columbus school this week, and, three days later, the parents and babysitter still aren't satisfied with the Muscogee County School District's response.

It's the second time in less than two years Fox Elementary School has been accused of being negligent during dismissal time.

In January 2014, a different boy, then a 5-year-old kindergartner, left Fox without parental permission and turned what should have been a 1.3-mile walk to his Howard Avenue home into a 2.4-mile adventure of at least an hour with stops at Burger King, McDonald's and Ray's Food Mart before safely arriving at a neighbor's house.

Monday, this boy, a first-grader, didn't take such a circuitous route, but he certainly gave his family a similar scare before safely arriving at his grandmother's house, two-tenths of a mile away.

Making the parents and babysitter even more outraged, they claim the employee who was responsible for letting that other boy go last year is the same one who didn't protect their child from possible harm.

The father, Scott Griffin, and the boy's babysitter, Theressa Lawson, told the Ledger-Enquirer that she normally meets the boy at dismissal time and escorts him along the walk from the school on 38th Street to his Oates Avenue home, four-tenths of a mile away. Monday, however, the boy was nowhere to be found at Fox when Lawson arrived.

Lawson went to the office, where principal Yvette Scarborough, told her the school had changed the dismissal procedure the previous Friday, but Lawson said she wasn't notified.

Lawson said she had been picking up the boy at the blue hallway. Now, she is supposed to go to the red hallway, Lawson said.

Regardless, the father and babysitter insist, no procedural change should have resulted in the boy being allowed to walk home alone without parental permission. They asked how could the boy have left without an adult checking him out?

In an email Wednesday evening to the Ledger-Enquirer, MCSD communications director Valerie Fuller explained what happened, according to the principal.

"First and foremost, we're all grateful the student is safe and have taken additional steps with the dismissal process," Fuller wrote. "According to Dr. Scarborough, a Fox student (1st grade) was directed as usual to the correct line for dismissal. There is a door on the red hallway for 'parent pick-up by walking'. There is another door at the end of the hallway for walkers who can walk alone and go home by way of the crossing guard at the back of the school. However, the student reportedly went to the door where students walk home alone."

The L-E asked whether any staff made a mistake and what changes to the procedure have been made since then.

"While there are dismissal procedures in place," Fuller wrote, "additional action steps were taken the next day to assist with ensuring procedures are followed and to ensure the parent(s) that the child would get to the proper line. Those steps included ensuring the classroom teacher delivers him personally to the adult on duty at the 'parent pick-up by walking' door/line, so the student is in the correct area for dismissal.

"Of course, the principal followed up with the parent(s) about the concern. She also spoke with the student to let the student know that the administrators and staff are there to assist if he has any questions or concerns about what to do or where to go and the importance of making contact with a teacher/administrator in the building right away to help him in any situation.

"We are grateful the child is safe and we are confident with the procedures that were already in place, as well as the additional steps taken by Dr. Scarborough and her staff will improve the dismissal process and continue to assist with ensuring students are in the right area for dismissal as safety is priority."

Thursday, the parents and babysitter said they still haven't received an acceptable explanation or an apology from Scarborough.

"I talked with her Monday afternoon, when he came up missing, and the only thing she kept telling me was that he must have gotten in the wrong line," Griffin said. "I want to hear more than that."

Griffin pursued a more detailed explanation by calling two central office administrators, but he said he hasn't heard back since leaving them messages Tuesday morning.

The father said, "It's like they're telling me, 'It's your child's fault. Too bad. If he got kidnapped or molested, that's your problem, not ours.'"

The lack of a response also upsets the mother, Carol Griffin.

"It makes me feel like they're trying to cover up something that doesn't need to be covered up," she said. "Just tell the truth. Just because this is a poor neighborhood doesn't mean these parents don't love their kids. It makes me feel like they're not concerned about us."

Lawson said Thursday's pickup procedure at Fox included a new system. Each student had a number and was required to hand it to the employee to be checked off before they could be released to the parent.

"They never did that before," she said. "It seems to go better than just letting them out all at once."

Although the new system comforts Lawson, seeing the same employee being responsible for the boy's dismissal Thursday makes her uncomfortable.

"I think they should assign it to a teacher who can handle it better," she said.

In the email string from Fuller, which also went to Scarborough and superintendent David Lewis, the L-E asked follow-up questions Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but no answers were received by deadline.

Among the questions:

What disciplinary action has been taken in both cases?

Have similar incidents happened at other MCSD schools during this school year and last school year? If so, how many and where?

What is unique about Fox that allows two students in less than two years to walk home along without parental permission?

This is Scarborough's first year at Fox. She comes from Polk County (Fla.) Public Schools, where she was principal of Churchwell Elementary and where Lewis was an assistant superintendent before the Muscogee County School Board hired him in July 2013. Scarborough replaced Tujuana Wiggins, who was transferred to Downtown Elementary, from where Tonya Douglass was transferred to succeed the retired Shiann Williamson at Waddell Elementary. Penny Thornton, however, was the principal at Fox when the 5-year-old wandered off in January 2014. She retired that summer, and Wiggins was hired from Hephzibah, where she was principal of Deer Chase Elementary.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 6:26 PM with the headline "School lets 6-year-old walk home alone without permission; parents, babysitter still seek answers ."