CYPRESS, Texas – A Cy-Fair Independent School District parent is demanding change in school policy after his fifth grader briefly disappeared while trying to get home from school.
John Littlefield’s daughter attends Moore Elementary School in northwest Harris County. Last year, Littlefield said his daughter was able to ride the bus.
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But the district’s new policy states that elementary students less than a mile from campus and middle school students less than two miles from campus won’t have access to a bus.
Littlefield and his ex-wife now take turns with school pickup and drop-off during the week. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Littlefield walks his daughter to and from school. On Wednesday mornings, Littlefield walks her to school and his ex-wife picks her up by car in the afternoon.
Things went smoothly Wednesday, but on Thursday, the school allegedly mislabeled the fifth grader as a walker instead of a car rider.
When no one arrived to walk his daughter home, Littlefield said she followed some classmates to a nearby apartment complex.
The girl’s parents and Cy-Fair ISD police searched for 90 minutes before she was found safe.
Littlefield said those 90 minutes were frantic.
“My mind went to dark places,” Littlefield said.
“I was walking through the dog park, calling her name, thinking, well, she’d hear me if she was in this park at all because I’m screaming. And then I’m thinking, okay, well, there’s bushes and stuff over there. Do I have to walk through those bushes and make sure nobody’s in there holding her? Do I have to walk through, you know, and look in these areas to see if there’s a body?”
Littlefield believes this would never have happened if Cy-Fair ISD had not cut bus routes this year.
“I blame the cuts to the bus system, as well as the governor who is holding education funding hostage over school vouchers. How many children will go lost or get kidnapped before someone cares?”
Cy-Fair ISD issued the following statement about this incident:
The 5th grade student was a “walker” on Monday and Tuesday and then requested a change to be a “car rider” for Wednesday through Friday. The campus indicated the multiple day change on the “change in transportation sticker” that was affixed to the student’s clothing on Wednesday, and the student was placed in the “car rider” line on Wednesday. However, the sticker was not on the student on Thursday, so the teacher reverted back to the student’s initial mode of transportation of “walker”, and the student walked with a group of friends to their apartment complex nearby (not where she lived). The school has reviewed their transportation procedures and made adjustments with staff to prevent this from occurring. Additionally, this afternoon, the principal will communicate to all parents that students will be required to wear a new sticker every day that there is a transportation change requested.”