Another Small Child Managed To Stroll Out of a Brooklyn School Unnoticed
Since Avonte Oquendo’s tragic disappearance and death, there’s been a heightened awareness of the lack of security keeping kids from just up and leaving their schools. Back in January, a terrifying story made the rounds of a 4-year-old strolling out of his school and walking home in freezing cold temperatures without a coat, and now NY1 has turned up a similar story about a 6-year-old boy with a brain tumor whose great grandmother claims he walked out of Bed-Stuy’s PS 305 this week without anyone noticing or stopping him.
After heading to the nurse’s office for a stomach ache, Luis Acevedo explained, “I told the nurse if she going to call my grandmother and she said no. So I walked out the school and I walked home by myself.” His great grandmother says that she’s tried to report the incident to the Department of Education, but hasn’t been able to have her calls returned.
For its part, the DOE claims “the matter is under investigation,” and has previously stated that better teacher training is needed to prevent these types of incidents, rather than expensive alarms on doors or essentially keeping kids under lock and key. In any case, we really, really hope this is the last one of these stories we hear.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.