Young child wanders away from Massachusetts school, found by neighbor on busy street
WELLESLEY - A young child wandered away from a Wellesley school during playground time on Wednesday before being found safe, police have confirmed.
The child was young enough to be in preschool at the Wellesley Montessori School. Teachers didn't notice until the end-of-the-day headcount revealed a student was gone.
"I would be very upset and wonder if it could happen again," says Wellesley neighbor Amin Chaoui.
Child went missing by "very busy street"
According to the school, the student left through an unsecured area between the school building and the connected church, walked to the front of the church and down Denton road.
"This is a very busy street ... often cars won't stop and you can easily imagine the kid could run around and be crushed by a car," Chaoui said.
The child was returned safe by a neighbor. School officials notified the child's parents, who called police.
Chaoui lives across the street. His children, now older, attended the Montessori school.
"They were there when they were like 3 years old," he said.
The school teaches nursery through pre-K children.
Frantic search for missing student
School officials say a headcount is protocol after each child is dismissed to a parent. Teachers frantically searched the building before a neighbor returned the student after discovering them on the street.
Wellesley Montessori tells WBZ-TV the teacher assigned to the children was placed on leave.
"For almost 50 years the school has never experienced an incident like this, and we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again," head of school Vanessa Larkin said in a statement.
The state's Early Education and Care Department and the Department of Children and Families are investigating but would not comment on where they are in that process.
The school did say a temporary barrier was installed and a contractor has been contacted to fix the fence.