Parents whose child ran away from their school grounds are calling on the service center concerned and the Minister of Education so that security measures can be tightened.
At the beginning of February, two 5-year-old kindergarten students from the Grande-Hermine school, in the Limoilou district of Quebec, left the playground in the afternoon, completely escaping the supervision of daycare staff.
The two little ones were left to their own devices for almost half an hour. They crossed several intersections in their neighborhood before ending up at the home of one of them.
The boys were greeted by an incredulous mother, who fortunately was teleworking and was able to accompany them to school, where the police had been called in to help find them even though their parents were unaware that they had disappeared.
“Unacceptable”
The parents of the other boy who had run away were not contacted until around forty minutes after the incident, once the children had been found.
Pierre Plociniczak couldn’t believe it when he received the call from the school. “For me, it was just inconceivable that this would happen. I was speechless,” he said in an interview with Newspaper.
“It’s unacceptable,” adds his partner, Pauline Decallonne.
The parents later understood that the children had managed to escape because they had first gone out alone into the playground, the exit from which was not supervised at the time.
The staff did not even realize they were missing; rather, it was a classmate who initially left with them, but later returned, who reported the incident.
Several shortcomings
These parents denounce several shortcomings which constitute “significant negligence” in their eyes, starting with the absence of supervisors near the playground exits.
“Our children were able to leave the schoolyard because it was easy and possible for them to do so: the premises were not adequately supervised,” we can read in a letter they sent to the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville. This missive is also signed by the parents of the other boy, who however requested that their anonymity be preserved.
The parents also filed a complaint with the Capital school service center.
Following this incident, the management of the Grande-Hermine school planned the implementation of measures which “should correct the deficiencies noted and prevent such a situation from repeating itself”, affirm the parents in their missive.
“We’re waiting to see how all this will come to fruition,” says Mme Decallonne.
Advocacy for clear safety rules in playgrounds
The parents of the boys who ran away from their playground say every school should have well-defined rules to ensure the safety of children.
They hope this incident will lead to “awareness” that extends far beyond their child’s school.
“We expect there to be harmonization of safety rules in school grounds. The safety of children must be the priority,” says Mr. Plociniczak.
Each primary school must have real written protocols regarding the surveillance and disappearance of children, these parents demand in a letter sent to the Minister of Education in which they also request the creation of a register in order to identify all cases of “runaways” in schools.
Not an isolated case
This incident is unfortunately not an isolated case, they add.
A child of around five years old who was walking alone near a road was also found by a traffic controller after running away from his school in Quebec in mid-February, TVA Nouvelles recently reported.
At the Capital school service center, however, it is stated that no similar incident has been reported over the past year.
The school administration is working with the service center to “evaluate the situation and explore solutions” to ensure safety in the schoolyard, indicates its spokesperson, Marie-Claude Lavoie. “It is very important for us to ensure a safe environment for all students,” she adds.
“Not normal”
In the office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, we recall that “it is up to schools to ensure the supervision of students during the day. “We expect this to be the case,” says his press secretary, Florence Plourde.
“It is certain that it is not normal that the school did not realize that the children were absent. We understand parents’ concerns,” she adds.