Juneau School District officials have launched an investigation into an after-school care program at Gastineau Elementary School after two 5-year-olds went missing for three hours without anyone realizing it last week.
The boys, both in kindergarten, had accidently taken the after-school activity bus home, without permission slips, and were dropped off at a bus stop near their houses at 3:45 p.m., instead of being picked up at the school by their parents at 5 p.m., a preliminary investigative report from the school and obtained by the Empire said.
Their absence was not noted until the parents arrived at the school, the report indicated, even though three children were marked absent during snack time from 3:30-3:45 p.m.
“Of the three children, one child (was) picked up at 3:10 by parent; the other two boys are unaccounted for,” the report read.
One of the mothers, who declined to give her name, said in an interview last Thursday — the same day her son was missing — that she arrived at the school at 5 p.m. to pick him up from the Recreation, Arts, Learning, and Leadership for Youth, or RALLY program. He wasn’t there.
She asked one of the RALLY supervisors where he was.
“We haven’t seen him,” the mother recalled the teacher telling her.
Another mother, Ursula Sfraga, arrived about five minutes later, and knew by looking at her friend’s face that something was wrong.
“Ursula, they’re gone. They’re not here. They’re both missing,” Sfraga remembers the other mom telling her. Both their kids attended preschool together last year.
Sfraga ran outside to tell her husband, who was waiting in their vehicle, and all three of them searched the school grounds trying to find their children.
“I was hysterical, of course,” Sfraga said in an interview Wednesday. “I ran outside, then back inside and asked teacher when she last saw him,” she said.
The teacher told her she didn’t know and she thought she sent them to another activity group, Sfraga said.
While Sfraga and her husband and staff continued searching inside and outside of the school, a RALLY staffer suggested maybe they both accidentally took the activities bus, or after-school bus, home.
The other mother jumped in her car, raced home to see if her child was indeed at home, though it was locked, checking out possible bus stops on the way. She found Sfraga’s son, shivering on the front porch of his house, but not her own child. She returned Sfraga’s son to the school to his parents, and drove back to continue searching for her son. Eventually, he was found in the family’s doghouse with their dog in their backyard in the rain with no coat on.
The mother said the incident was traumatic for her son and that, “he was so scared he hid under the dining room table. He didn’t want to talk about it, it (took) forever to coax him out.”
Sfraga said the experience also left her usually talkative son mute and unable to look at any one for about an hour. When he finally spoke, he told his parents the bus dropped him off somewhere that looked familiar and he found his way home. It was locked, he began to cry and got scared, so he ate a snack and tried walking back to school. But by then, it was getting dark, and it was still raining and he thought he couldn’t make it. So he turned around once more, walked home, and sat on the front porch until the other mother found him.
“It was such an absolute nightmare,” Sfraga said. “I couldn’t believe it. It was just a horrible experience.”
The other mother echoed her sentiment, and said by phone, “This is a 5-year old we’re talking about, with no skills … He’s out there in the world all by himself, and the school doesn’t even know he’s gone.”
The children went unaccounted for about 2 hours and 45 minutes, but the unnamed mother said it felt like forever.
“It wasn’t just the time between when I found out he was gone — it was the fact that he had been missing for hours before I found out he was gone,” she said the same night as the incident.
JSD Communications Manager Kristin Bartlett said in an interview Wednesday that Wayne Hixson, the district supervisor of the RALLY program, which is under JSD’s administrative services branch, has personally apologized to the families, which the unnamed mother said she greatly appreciated.
“On behalf of the Juneau School District, I want to say how truly sorry we are for the distress this has caused for the students and families involved in this situation,” Bartlett added in an email Wednesday.
Hixson declined to be interviewed.
The investigation is still ongoing, but Bartlett said they have ruled out understaffing of the program as a contributing factor in the case.
Gastineau Elementary currently has one full-time certified staff member and one hourly aide on site for the 30 kids in the program each day, making the child-to-supervisor ratio 15:1. Enrollment is capped by Alaska law at 30 students per certified supervisor, Bartlett said.
Steps have already been taken to address what happened, Bartlett said, and an additional training day for all RALLY staff in the district on attendance policy and procedure was held on Monday. Hixson also addressed the matter at a site council meeting before parents and educators at the school on Monday.
Staff will be now required to take attendance more often throughout the entirety of the program, and attendance will have to recorded in writing, Bartlett said.
The boys may have been unaccounted for last Thursday during “transition time” from one room or group to another for activities, Bartlett said, so staff has been advised to take attendance before and after each transition.
“Student safety and security is absolutely our number one priority,” Bartlett said. “We’re taking steps to make sure this never happens again.”
One RALLY program operates out of each of the six elementary schools in the school district. They were established in the 1980s for latchkey kids, and the program is licensed by the state.
Both mothers described that day as a nightmare.
“When your child’s gone, it’s just like a bottomless pit and the world, you’re just falling into it,” the unnamed mother said last Thursday. “I still feel sick.”
She said she was yanking her son out of the program for the time being, and will probably hire a nanny to take care of him after school until the RALLY program regains her trust.
Sfraga says she has no choice but to leave her son in the program since both she and her husband work full-time jobs.
Both women said on Wednesday they are now taking a proactive approach in improving safety at the school and program. On Monday, they submitted a proposal on bus safety to parents of the school at an already-scheduled parent meeting. They are also organizing a safety committee, which the principal has expressed interest in, they said.
“It’s been very hellacious, the whole experience, but we’re trying to be positive,” Sfraga said. “It’s really hard to be, but obviously we don’t want this to happen to another child.”
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (53)
Add commentTo the parents....
I'm so sorry you and your children went through this terrible event.
Thank you for the support
I am the named mother in this article. I agree with the unnamed mom that more positivity and details on the follow up actions could have been included in this article, but for me, it was an accurate picture of the experience of our family. I am really looking forward to getting some traction with the open door to action given to us by the school principal and Site Council to form a safety committe of concerned parents and to-be-named school representatives. I believe together we can move forward and step-by-step make immediate key changes to the way the bus system accepts and releases children. This is Step 1- there is much other work to be done and it will be a group effort!
I want to be clear that I do not hold the teacher solely accountable for what happened and I don't want to see her end up the fall-guy for the events that day. I see this incident as a system-wide failure where several check points were neglected. This is not fun to deal with and it is tempting to succumb to the intensity of this and back away and try to forget what happened. I can't in good conscious, however, walk away from this because of the stress and then see another article about a missing child next year. Cooperation, support and true partnership with the school and willing parent advocates is the key to improvement. My son turned five two months ago, he is one of the youngest in his class. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would be at work thinking he is safe when instead he was walking the streets, in pouring rain, in a sweatshirt, crying and scared and no one knew. (I pay full tuition for RALLY to answer those curious in earlier comments.) Hoping for positive change! Thanks again for the support.
Thank you for the support
I am the named mother in this article. I agree with the unnamed mom that more positivity and details on the follow up actions could have been included in this article, but for me, it was an accurate picture of the experience of our family. I am really looking forward to getting some traction with the open door to action given to us by the school principal and Site Council to form a safety committe of concerned parents and to-be-named school representatives. I believe together we can move forward and step-by-step make immediate key changes to the way the bus system accepts and releases children. This is Step 1- there is much other work to be done and it will be a group effort!
I want to be clear that I do not hold the teacher solely accountable for what happened and I don't want to see her end up the fall-guy for the events that day. I see this incident as a system-wide failure where several check points were neglected. This is not fun to deal with and it is tempting to succumb to the intensity of this and back away and try to forget what happened. I can't in good conscious, however, walk away from this because of the stress and then see another article about a missing child next year. Cooperation, support and true partnership with the school and willing parent advocates is the key to improvement. My son turned five two months ago, he is one of the youngest in his class. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would be at work thinking he is safe when instead he was walking the streets, in pouring rain, in a sweatshirt, crying and scared and no one knew. (I pay full tuition for RALLY to answer those curious in earlier comments.) Hoping for positive change! Thanks again for the support.
Communication
I feel for the parents and the little boys. I have a little guy in kindergarten as well. Just reading this story sent me into a mini panic attack.
We've had a great experience with the G.V. Rally. But this really shows that a bulletproof attendance system needs to be in place. A system that is similar to the police's chain of custody.
The school's schedule with activities and early releases can be confusing, which is one of the factors that contributed to this incident. STANDARD Attendance sheets (to be compared during hand offs) for teachers, activities coordinators, Rally personnel and the bus drivers. Also, there should be a law that bus drivers can't let a 5 year old off the bus unless a grown up is there to meet the child.
To the families...I hope your little guys forget about this really soon. No child should have to go through that.
Lack of staffing not an issue?
Sorry, but I don't believe that. For a variety of reasons, our high-functioning special needs son was denied entrance into Gastineau RALLY this fall, after being in the program for the past few years. One of the stated reasons was "inadequate staffing" to provide a safe environment for him. Wayne Hixson can't have it both ways - he either has adequate staff or he does not. This incident leads me to believe that he does not.
Two boys are the subject not child care assistance.
What does child care assistance have to do with this? Two kids were lost obviously it was the child care provider's mistake to not account for each kid. Activity bus at the age of 5? something is amiss here. Doesn't the child care know the children? Investigation needs to be done so that this doesn't happen again. I wouldn't trust my grandchild in the care of this or any child care if this has happened before. Now, the parent of these two boys will have their worries each day that they go this child care. I know I would worry.
AK_Mom ?
Since you seem to be an authority on just about everything. How do you feel about career foster parents. More directly people that show a false front to the world, in order to provide foster care to children in there home and collect money and benefits for doing so.
But in reality behind closed doors they are the last people in the world you would ever consider leaving your own children with. I.E. behind in their mortgage, mom is sick and crying most of the time, dad is a chronic alcoholic, marriage is a sham "cant stand each other" spend more time fighting than not. Adult kid lives in the garage with his girlfriend drinking and doing drugs etc.
This is of course a hypothetical question.
After reading that article
After reading that article and re reading it, it sounds like JSD is trying to throw Rally under the buss and take no accountibility.
AK-Mom
Fisherwoman44 and akbrdguru,
I wouldn't worry too much about anything that AK-Mom writes, states, says, and most of all thinks. I don't post on here often but I have read an impressive amount of ignorant and slanderous comments that "AK-Mom" has posted. I am glad that she didn't choose to slander anyone in particular today, but rather an entire program that does need some help and support as well.
Gastineau Parent seemed to alleviate much of the concern for this incident, and is dealing with this ordeal like an adult.
This has happened before .......
This is not a new occurrence. I was picking up a child at Riverbend elementary school at kindergarten pick-up time , and I saw a very young child wandering down the street looking lost, and I stopped and took the child back to school. It turns out he was supposed to be at Rally, and had decided to walk home. Rally staff was not what I consider appropriately concerned, and when I questioned if they noticed he was missing they stated they did not. I suggested they needed to take better care of their charges, and ensure they make it to Rally and are accounted for!
As a side note, childcare workers need to be paid more, as they have a huge responsibility. I truly respect anyone in the childcare field as they get paid little, for a very important job!
Clarification
Both children were properly checked in to RALLY after their regular school day ended at 1:00. One child was then checked out of RALLY at 2:30 to attend Skippers. When Skippers was over at 3:40, that is when (somehow) the two boys found each other and made a plan to get on the activity bus - which doesn't leave until 3:50. They were delivered to their homes around 4:00. It was between 4:00 and 5:00 that RALLY did not realize they were gone. So, although it was a horrifying incident, one hour has been sensationalized into three...
Bashing Gastineau RALLY, the bus drivers, the boys, the school or the parents in any way is ridiculous and unproductive. The parents of these boys have stepped outside of their anger and hurt to turn this into an opportunity to make changes for the betterment of all of our children in Juneau Schools.
Terrible things happen to good people... It's how we learn and grow from it that is important. Want to be involved? Stop bashing and ask yourself how you can be part of a solution. These parents and educators are trying to do just that.
sorry to the little ones...........
CBJ does what they want when they want to who they want. Big gift shop downtown discount all you want the city don't need or want your sales tax. They'll just squeeze the locals a little more. Watch your kids, sorry too busy handing out condoms and telling the kids to report if their parents spank them or send them to bed to early. How many city trucks do you see at Fred's in the middle of the day, sitting in the middle of the road side by side talking for hours not minutes. Term limits no just sit out one then same old BS. The mayor is not even done and they're already talking about which one of them will sit out one dance then come back to take his job, because as the city leaders say "we need continuity there's to much knowledge in their heads to lose, we need them". The only way out is vote in new blood. And to the families, sorry that you have had this trauma bought to your front door. God bless you and yours.
RALLY PROGRAM
I'm a working parent that until recently had 2 kids in after school Rally, and part-time summer Rally, for 5 years or more, at Riverbend, Gastineau, and Harboview locations. There were minor issues now and then but never anything like what has been reported, and never anything that couldn't be resolved after a quick discussion. Over the years I have grown to appreciate the program, and especially some of the remarkable people that work there, for doing so much more than just babysitting our kids. If all they did was babysit I would consider it a waste of time, money, and opportunity. If all they did was babysit it would be easier for them to keep track of every kid every second of the day, and make sure that no kid was ever dropped off or picked up without observing formal procedures like those at a prison, but the kids, employees, and parents would be miserable. I'm sorry to hear that this happened -- I would be every bit as upset as the parents involved -- but its a very rare thing and neither RALLY nor Gastineau deserves the amount of criticism leveled at them here by people that don't even know what happened. I applaud the parents of the two boys for taking positive steps to improve safety and security at the school and RALLY, and for speaking up to clarify some of the facts. The employees at RALLY and at GASTINEAU that I've known work hard and do a good job, and they are very serious about the well-being of the kids in their care.
well...
Two kids can cost over a grand a month for a couple hours a day and they can't even help your children with their homework. Such a wonderful program...
hmmm
According to CBJ records one of the parents live on St Ann's in Douglas. How many blocks away?
I find it sad that in a town this small, two children of this age, out and alone, were not helped by anyone. I certainly would hesitate knowing that one could be accused of kidnapping when only trying to help. Still a crying child on a neighbors stoop would be noticed by me and result in a call to JPD. Of course then the parents would probably get a visit from OCS…
37 years ago I walked home from kindergarten-as did the majority of kids. Times have changed!
Glad they are both safe.
RALLY?
It is good to see that things are getting so much better at the Rally program. Three years ago, Rally managed to “lose” my child as well. The situation then was very similar to the current one, the group had moved from one location to another and the Rally person in charge had not done a head count either before or after the move and was not aware that a child was missing until I came to pick up my child more than a hour later. I was able to back track where they had been and found the child myself, unharmed (luckily). I then called the director of the rally program and left a voice mail stating that I wished to discuss the issue. To date that message has never been returned.
I have always thought that this was probably something that bordered on criminal neglect but chose not to do anything more since I thought that it was just a very rare occurrence. Looking at the situation now I wonder if it is too late to file a criminal complaint.
I think it's outrageous that the
bus driver even let those two little kids on the bus without anyone with them, than to make matters worse, the driver dropped them off without an adult there to greet them!
I'm so glad this story didn't end tragically and those babies are back home with their moms.
Wren
Its called homework because they do it at home, and its YOUR job as their parent to help them with their homework. Not the Rally staff who as you can tell and not their fault are understaffed.
some things never change
When I was in Gastineau Rally they left me at Sandy Beach on Beach day... nobody noticed I was gone for 3 hours! I was also sent home on the wrong bus multiple times. Its odd that no one has said anything til now!
I went to RALLY at Gastineau
I went to RALLY at Gastineau for some time, then worked at the same RALLY, under Lynette, who is still at Gastineau's RALLY program. This article makes snack time seem like it's after students have been at the program. It is not. As students show up, they wash their hands, and go out to snack where they are checked in. If students are not present at snack time, they have gone home. Parents almost always fail to tell RALLY when this has happened, so, for many many years, it has been assumed the child has gone home. I am glad to hear (but am not surprised) that RALLY responded correctly, as stated by the parent's comment on this article. I do however, know that when I was attending Gastineau as a child and taking the activity bus, the driver took a head count, and made sure each child on the bus was on the list of students allowed on the bus. Where did this policy go??? I wasn't even allowed to bring friends home on the bus... How did two young students get on the bus by themselves without the driver noticing??? I have a feeling maybe THIS should be investigated...
What about accountability on the parent's part?
Five years old is old enough to follow simple instructions. You cannot "accidently" get on a bus. Either the child was new to this and should have been walked to RALLY every day until a routine was set or the child was deliberately misbehaving and got on the bus.
As soon as I was old enough to know better, my parents taught me my name, address and phone number and what to do in an emergency. What to do and where to go in special circumstances: school getting out early, parents being late from work, etc, where the emergency key is located.
With a little bit of extra parenting, no kid will have to shiver outside with the dog until the parents come home to be parents.