Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Kindergartner who wandered away from school found safe

Map of Glen Taylor

Glen Taylor

2655 Siena Heights Dr., Henderson

A kindergarten student at Glen Taylor Elementary School walked away from school alone Wednesday afternoon and was found unharmed about an hour later.

Officials with Clark County School District are still investigating how the boy got away from campus unsupervised, Southeast Region Superintendent Andre Denson said.

"He thought he saw his mother upon leaving kindergarten class and it was not his mother, so he decided to walk home," Denson said.

The boy walked nearly to St. Rose Dominican Hospitals-Siena campus when police picked him up.

Standard School District protocol requires a teacher, especially in the case of a kindergarten student, to make eye contact with a parent before that student is released, Denson said.

If the teacher doesn't see a parent or guardian, or doesn't recognize the parent or guardian, the teacher should not release the child, he said. An investigation is still under way to find out how the boy ended up on his own.

"That should have never happened, so that's the part we're looking into," Denson said.

Glen Taylor does offer Safekey, an after-school program offered by the Henderson Parks and Recreation Department to watch children until a parent is available to pick them up. In this case it doesn't appear the boy went to Safekey, Denson said.

Attempts to reach the parents were not successful.

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].

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