A 7 year old boy went missing Wednesday after getting on a bus at University Place Elementary School. But the parents wanted him to get on a van and go to the Boys and Girls Club. Where was the miscommunication?
Huntsville City Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski says the school did everything right. The boy got on the same bus he rode to school. Dr. Wardynski says if parents want their children to take different transportation home, they must give the school a written request.
“We can't take calls over the phone. We can't take children telling us I'm supposed to go home with Aunt May or Uncle Bill and the reason is in this day in age, there are custody cases, there are dangers people that will call on the phone that we don't know," said Dr. Wardynski.
A Boys and Girls Club official says they noticed the boy wasn't there but it's not their policy to check on why a student failed to arrive at their facility.
“We have an open door policy so if the kid does not show up on our door we don't know if a parent has picked the kid up from school or what has happened to the kid so normally once a kid gets to our door or gets off of that bus at the club we have a staff member there that will see to it that the kid goes in and checks in at the front desk,” said Boys and Girls Club Operations Director, Harold Weatherly.
The Boys and Girls Club has responsibility for the child while the child is in the van and in the building. Wardynski says the boy was dropped off in his neighborhood at 3:15. The boy was located near his neighborhood around 8:00 Wednesday night.
