A Clayton County family is demanding answers after a 4-year-old child allegedly wandered outside a school building to a busy road, and school staffers didn't know it, Channel 2 Action News reports.
“Anything could have happened to my child. She’s my only child,” Sade Cutchins told Channel 2.
Cutchins’ daughter is enrolled in the after-school program at James A. Jackson Elementary School, 7711 Mount Zion Boulevard, Jonesboro. The mother said Jackson’s principal told her the child had asked to go the restroom, but the girl ended up outside the building.
The preschooler came within a few feet of Mount Zion Boulevard. Fortunately for her, the girl’s father was coming to pick her up and spotted her. Family members said the child was without her coat, and was cold and soaking wet from the rain.
They said the doors to the school were wide open, and the girl had just walked out the front door. School staffers, they said, did not realize the child was gone.
"Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes, but I'm glad she's here. But it just goes to show security doesn't mean anything if it doesn't work," said Christine Ellington, the girl's grandmother.
The family filed a report with the Clayton County Police Department.
Channel 2 sought a comment from school officials but had not received one as of Thursday afternoon.
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