Boston

Brockton girl, 4, lost at theater by day care
By Margaret Hawryluk, Enterprise special correspondent

Ivette Williamson assumed the worst when the Brockton Day Nursery called her Tuesday at work about her 4-year-old daughter, Aaliyah.

“When they called, they started with, 'I regret to inform you,” Williamson, of Brockton, said. “I assumed she was injured in an accident, or dead.”

She was relieved to hear her daughter was safe, but grew angry after the nursery told her that Aaliyah had been left behind at the Showcase Cinema in Randolph during a field trip to see the movie “Ant Bully.”

Williamson said the nursery didn't realize her daughter was missing until 45 minutes after they had left the movie, which ended at 12:30 p.m.

“Someone could've snatched her,” she said. “I'm so upset right now I don't even know what to do.”

But what Williamson said further enraged her was how the nursery tried to cover up the incident.

Williamson said her daughter was separated from the group of 16 children, with two teachers and two substitutes, after the group lined up to go to the bathroom.

“There were four kids to each teacher — how could they miss her?” she asked.

When Aaliyah left the bathroom, Williamson said the group had left the theater and she was alone. Aaliyah approached a maintenance worker at the theater, who watched her until Randolph police arrived and brought her to the station.

“They didn't miss her until they got back to the nursery,” she said. “Instead of calling the police, they drove back.”

The Randolph police were unavailable for comment this morning.

Williamson said the police would only release Aaliyah to a parent or guardian, so the nursery called her at approximately 2 p.m. to pick up her daughter.

“They tried to snatch her before anyone noticed,” she added.
Williamson said the nursery did not realize the girl was missing until 45 minutes after they had left.
Merrilee Fellows, education coordinator at the nursery, said the teachers involved in the trip are being interviewed “to make sure it doesn't happen again.”

She said general procedure is to fill a sign-out sheet as the children leave the nursery and sign them back in when they return.

She said the team is also supposed to perform a head-count before children board the bus.
“They didn't count the children,” Williamson said.

Williamson, who works in Norwood, said she had been sending her daughter to the nursery for approximately two years, for five days a week, but is now looking for a new nursery.

“She told me, 'Mommy, I don't want to go to school today,'” she said.
, a single mother, added.

She is also upset that the nursery called her at 5:30 p.m. to say the teachers were responsible, but she said a director never called to apologize.

“It was troubling to me how they handled it,” she said.

Fellows said the situation is being handled internally and she had no further comment, but the nursery does recognize responsibility.

“We certainly express our sincerest regret and hope Aaliyah is fine,” she said.

Comment:

This is the Garden School faculty's biggest worry - that we will lose one. We count, count, count every so often. I'm usually rigid and uncompromising about headcounts. We called roll all summer in the bus even calling the parents' names and our names. Can you imagine leaving a child in a different city? Nightmares of nightmares for the child - he or she would never get over it. Safety and care are the FIRST priority of any field trip.

During our last trip to the lake, there was a drop off on the short road we walk out on, like crazies, the teachers were directing children's traffic away from the drop off. It can happen - someone will be hurt and the trip becomes a disaster.

I know that teachers are really boring and demanding about roll call, line ups and re-checks, but it's our only insurance that all the children are there and the trip has been a success.

As advice for anyone reading this, count, count, count and before leaving anything or any place, take roll if you are unsure. Ask about the youngest children every time you change positions, and keep everyone in sight. Check under, over around and through on playgrounds, and never let a child go to the toilet alone.