Somebody let down 3-year-old Samantha Jo. This week she found herself locked inside a dark classroom at 5:15 p.m. -- all alone. What on earth happened?
According to Samantha Jo's dad, Keith Paquette, this is what time he showed up to pick up his daughter from preschool. But the school was closed, all the doors locked, no sign of Samantha Jo anywhere. Scary!
Eventually a teacher came back to help search for the girl and Keith ended up breaking a window to a classroom to get in. He says Samantha Jo had an accident in the bathroom and hid. The school overlooked her when they closed for the day. But the school has another story.
They told the police that their records show Samantha Jo's grandmother checked her out that afternoon! I don't know -- that sounds fishy to me. The school wouldn't comment to reporters, and anyway, how hard would it be to quickly forge Grandma's signature?
Someone screwed up, anyway. Why was Keith picking up his daughter after 5:00? Maybe the school has an after-school program for working parents? But it sounds like he was running late -- as parents often are. I've definitely been late picking up.
Here's what I imagine happened: It's the end of the day and parents have taken their kids home. Someone sees Samantha Jo on the list, but there's no sign of her. Instead of looking around to make sure, the teacher shrugs and figures someone just forgot to sign her out. Ten minutes later, Samantha Jo's dad shows up.
Or maybe that's not how it went down. But while the adults argue over whose fault this is, some scared little girl had one traumatic afternoon. On top of peeing her pants (poor thing), she was locked up in the dark!
While everyone passes the blame buck, I hope at least privately they're having a "what did we learn from this" moment of contemplation.
Toddler locked inside Westport preschool after hours: MyFoxBOSTON.com
Have you ever worried about this happening to your child?
Image via MyFoxBoston.com
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Comments 19
That poor baby.... Sooo many unanswered questions about this!!
Soo many facts left out....what time did the school close? Was it hours or minutes that she was alone? If it was hours why was the Dad soooo late and not contact the school or have someone else pick her up. Need more facts before reporting this story!
I really just don't blame anyone. If you ask me it was an accident.
First of all, there's no proof grandma's signature was forged and completely unfair and irresponsible of the writer to make that accusation.
Second, even if the school did a quick look at the end of the day, if the little girl was hiding she still could have been over looked.
Like I said, it just sounds like an accident with no real blame to be laid on anyone or if we are going to look for blame then everyone is to blame. All involved could have done something different to avoid this. Dad could have (and might I add SHOULD have been on time), school should have been paying more attention.
gilmoregirl29, I tend to agree with you. I'm glad she was found safe, and I also wonder how long she was alone? I'm also betting that the school will never have this problem again.
http://www.abc6.com/story/18062140/toddler-locked-in-westport-daycare-trapped-inside
Better article on the facts if you ask me. I can see how this would happen but still is scary for that little girl.