Mother of Teen Locked Inside a Philadelphia School For 9 Hours Files Complaint
By Paul Kurtz and Jericka Duncan
The mother of a Logan teen who got locked inside his school overnight has lodged a complaint with the School District of Philadelphia, and an investigation is now underway.
He spent nine harrowing hours, alone and frightened, in a stairwell at Roosevelt Middle School (see previous story). Angela Johnson says her son, David, was not engaged in any improper activity -- just trying to use another route to leave the school to avoid bullies.
"You been going out the right way all this time, then out of nowhere -- since the bullying started -- you decide to go out that way? No. And then you get stuck, not knowing you can't go out that way? I don't think he would go a way where he could not get out."
David discovered that the stairwell doors on all floors were locked. He was trapped for nine hours as frantic family members conducted a search.
His father, his uncle, and a school cop finally found him at around midnight.
Mom sat down with the principal and school district officials this morning but says she wasn't satisfied with their explanation.
"Why was that door locked? That should never be locked from the inside, if it's for emergency," she said. "And you should check. No one checked that stairwell. And they say they checked, but apparently no one checked, because if someone had checked you would have found him in there."
