Many questions surround how a five year old special education student in Buffalo was able to leave his school building unnoticed.
It happened at the Early Childhood Center School 82 on Easton Avenue last Tuesday. The kindergarten student left his classroom, put on his jacket and walked out the door.
The child was discovered by a Buffalo Police officer who returned the child to the school.
After the school notified the parents, the principal then said she was suspending him for leaving without permission.
The boy's father, Hector Ortiz is outraged and wants answers from the city school district.
"They didn't want to apologize to us," said Ortiz. "They called my wife and told her come pick up your child because he is formally suspended for leaving the school -- that's what they told my wife. I felt that the principal was trying to intimidate me by threatening to suspend my child, without any explanation of how my son was able to get out of the school”.
Ortiz says his son is a special education student who has speech troubles and life threatening food allergies.
Ortiz's wife, Gloria Rodriguez, said "the principal would not answer any of our questions about what happened to our son or how.”
Ortiz and his wife met at PS 82 Monday morning with the principal, staffers, a union representative and the District's Chief of School Leadership. They were joined by District Coordinating Council President Sam Radford. But they emerged extremely disappointed with the meeting, saying the district was completely unprepared to discuss the situation. They said the district failed to an Incident Report.
"They haven't even given the parents a clear understanding of what took place as it relates to their child," said Radford. "The fact that they showed up so poorly prepared is a clear indication that they have not prioritized this issue. The fact is the superintendent is not here to give any assurances."
The parents are demanding to meet with interim Buffalo Schools Superintendent Don Ogilvie.
WBFO News reached out to the district after Ortiz and Radford spoke with the media. A statement was issued several hours later.
The school district issued a statement saying it is currently addressing the needs of the child as its "highest priority" and is reviewing existing procedures and investigating actions. But the district says it is not at liberty to share information concerning personnel and is unable to discuss circumstances of the child under privacy rules.
The following is the full statement issued by the District regarding School 82:
'The District held an initial meeting today and expects to meet again concerning the recent incident in which a child was able to exit school #82 undetected. The District is currently addressing the needs of the child as our highest priority. We are also reviewing existing procedures and investigating the actions of staff members.
We are not at liberty to share information concerning personnel, nor are we able to further discuss the particular circumstances of the child in accordance with Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guidelines."
Radford and the parents also sent a letter to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and city Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda to ascertain whether proper protocol was followed when the police officer returned the child back to the school. The letter claims the police department acted with "some degree of neglect," noting that as a mandated reporter, the officer should have informed Child Protective Services and not returned the child to the school. WBFO spoke with the mayoral spokesman Mike DeGeorge, who said he's not sure how "accurate" that statement is from Radford on reporting to CPS.
He said the officer discovered the young boy walking along Easton while on routine patrol Tuesday, September 16th. DeGeorge said the officer reported the child wanted to go home, but wasn't sure where he lived. That's when the officer returned him to the school building.
Radford and Ortiz also pointed out that the school has surveillance cameras in and outside the building and should have reviewed the video recordings to learn details of how the young boy left the school.