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ACPS Jefferson-Houston Elementary School administrators put on leave after autistic 4-year-old walked away from school
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Anonymous
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From ALXNOW.com: “ A four-year-old student with autism walked away from Jefferson-Houston Elementary School in Old Town last month and was found barefoot in the middle the street by a school bus driver near the King Street Metro station.
A number of school officials were consequently placed on administrative leave by Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt.” Link to article: https://www.alxnow.com/2024/04/09/jefferson-houston-elementary-school-administrators-put-on-leave-after-autistic-4-year-old-walked-away-from-school/ |
Anonymous
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Just another day at J-H / ACPS.
The academic principal was promoted after putting my child with disabilities at risk a few years back (under a prior principal). So, ACPS knew years ago about how J-H did not serve students with disabilities but did not take adequate action leading to this child to be put at risk. Putting Preeann Johnson in charge is laughable. Yes, she probably can successfully keep the students with disabilities on campus but from personal experience during the pandemic, I don’t think she cares if they learn and does not care about parents’ concerns about whether they are learning. |
Anonymous
| This will not make the JH boosters very happy. |
Anonymous
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From the various articles I've read, it sounds like the child was found wandering around the intersection of Cameron and Commonwealth by the smaller King Street metro entrance and where there is that underpass/tunnel on Commonwealth that goes under the metro/train tracks. That is a significant distance from JH (past the rec center, past the pool, past multiple houses, past the Hilton, etc).
How did a 4 year old end up all the way down there? |
Anonymous
That's got to take a kid that age at least 20 minutes to walk. How in the world could an autistic 4 yo in special care be missing that long wthout alarm? |
Anonymous
Maybe I am wrong but a school bus driver found the child and lured him into her bus with a lollipop. From the description of the scene (I was driving in the tunnel by the school) I assume that’s where it is. I can’t think of any more “tunnels” and I live by there. It’s about 4 blocks. |
Anonymous
| Fox 5 says the girls was found barefoot in the tunnel next to the metro so looks like PP is correct. Girl is also nonverbal. I am so glad the girl is ok. |
Anonymous
To be fair to JH, all of ACPS is terrible with special needs students. |
Anonymous
| An autistic kid who elopes is such a difficult situation because you really do have to watch them ALL THE TIME. It is horrifying that she ended up there and what could’ve happened to her and I understand why the staff was put on leave - it immediately constitutes CPS involvement if a teacher “loses” an elopement case. They may be reinstated and it may be found that public isn’t the best option for a student with these needs (perhaps not her LRE). Hard to know without more info how negligent it truly was. |
Anonymous
I wonder if she slipped out during nap |
Anonymous
| I hope the mother changes her mind and sues. |
Anonymous
Why? The mother probably already knows how hard it is to keep track of her DC. |
Anonymous
| Our school system requires that classeoom doors remain locked. |
Anonymous
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Eloping children are a great danger to themselves. Even when you think you have eyeballs on them all the time... realistically, if the kids outnumber the adults, you've got to put serious measures in place, such as locking all but one door and having that door supervised 100% of the time. It's not what the average public school is used to. More like a prison, really.
My neighbor lost her autistic kid a few times at that age - he ran outside and across a busy street. And she's a very responsible, very attuned person who was doing her very best for her own child. |
Anonymous
From the inside? |