HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – During dismissal time at Aldine ISD’s Kujawa Elementary School on the district’s first day of school, a 6-year-old boy was left to wander the neighborhood near the school while his family frantically searched for him.
“They just turned him loose,” his mother Mary Burnett told only KPRC 2.
Burnett doesn’t live far from the school and her son is able to walk home. She said he is supposed to be walked by school staff to meet a parent or guardian.
But on Thursday, she said he got out of school 10 minutes early and the school employee let him go at a nearby apartment complex where he doesn’t live.
“We’re driving around, they’re like, ‘He’s nowhere up in the school office. He’s nowhere in the school’,” Burnett said. “He’s 6 years old, why y’all letting a 6-year-old go by himself?”
Aldine ISD told KPRC 2 the student was dropped off at their pre-assigned pickup location before parents arrived. The district said he was reunited with parents within about 10 minutes.
But that doesn’t match what Burnett said happened.
“My child’s missing for a whole hour. Klein ISD find my child. He was on the other side of the neighborhood,” Burnett said.
She said neighboring Klein ISD police found her son crying and traumatized, looked in his backpack to find his address, and took him home, which was around the time she got back home from searching.
“He kept on saying, ‘Mama, I was lost. I was lost, Momma. They lost me.’ Like, my poor baby,” Burnett said. “It was not but God that he didn’t get hit by a car.”
Read Aldine ISD’s full statement:
“Student safety is a priority for Aldine ISD. We are aware of an incident that occurred today in which a Kujawa Elementary School student was dropped off at their pre- assigned pick-up location before their parents arrived. Thankfully, the student was safely reunited with their parents within about 10 minutes. We deeply regret that this incident occurred, and have made adjustments to prevent its recurrence.
The principal met with the family to address their concerns directly and the school will take appropriate administrative action. For so many schools, the beginning of a new school year presents many challenges, including learning and executing school arrival and dismissal logistics. We believe this can be attributed to that only.
Aldine ISD will continue to do everything they can to ensure our students are safe when going to and from school and arrive at their final destination safely,” a spokesperson for the district wrote in a statement.