LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — A Lee’s Summit woman said her five-year-old says her son was left alone sleeping on the floor in a dark room inside a school, while the staff she pays to watch him was nowhere in sight.
Katie Fitzsimmons said that on Friday, just before 6:00 p.m., she went to get her kindergartener who is in the Lee’s Summit School District’s after-school program at Prairie View Elementary School.
”I went to pick him up from after school care and the lights were out and the doors were locked I rang the doorbell several times and no one answered,” said Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons says finally a janitor opened the door and told her everyone was gone. She says she freaked out, called police and started banging on the doors again.
“They opened the door and I said can we just check to see if he’s down there and sure enough he was down there,” said Fitzsimmons.
She says she wants to know why her five-year-old son was left alone.
“My heart dropped and all I could think was someone had him,” she said.
The Lee’s Summit School District says the incident is being investigated.
“We believe that the program student check out procedures were not followed by staff and due to miscommunication, the staff members left the school believing that all children had been picked up by their families,” said the Lee’s Summit School District in a statement.
“His backpack and his coat was on the coat rack by the wall where you walk out the door,” said Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons says by the time an officer with the Lee’s Summit police officer got to the school she had found her son and officer didn’t take a police report.
A spokesperson for the Lee’s Summit Police Department says the officer didn’t believe there was criminal intent to neglect the child and ruled it an accident.
“When a parent leaves a kid at home it’s neglect, but when a school leaves them behind it’s like it’s no big deal,” said Fitzsimmons.
The Lee’s Summit District says staff members who did not follow the checkout procedures will be disciplined.
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