A school principal has written to parents about new safety measures after nobody noticed a four-year-old boy walk out of a classroom and down the street towards his home.
The child managed to get around 300 metres away from the school when he was spotted by a couple who were driving by and contacted authorities.
The incident happened at Arc-En-Ciel School on the busy Portobello Boulevard in Orleans, Ottawa, at around 2 p.m. last Wednesday.
The junior kindergarten student is fine, but his wandering ways have sparked a school board investigation.
“There was no real reason, he wasn’t sad, he just decided it was time to go home, put on his coat and left,” Guy Dubois, superintendent of Education Conseil Des Ecoles Catholique du Centre-East, told CTV Ottawa.
The boy lives about two kilometres from the school and started walking in the direction of home.
“That was our worst scenario. Safety is our number one priority and when you get that call everyone panics,” Dubois said.
The school’s letter explained that the administration had met with the child’s parents.
The letter revealed that new safety procedures have been put in place to ensure that their child would always be safe in school.
The plan includes increased supervision during transition periods and class changes, more thorough schoolyard monitoring and bells on all kindergarten classrooms.
The letter said the boy’s parents were reassured by the plan.
“I think they jumped on it and I think they’re doing a good job, we’ll see what happens after that,” parent Luc Boudreault told CTV.
