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Parents and Guardians Forum>Kindergartner Left at School
happymom 09:01 AM 05-03-2018
There was an oversight yesterday at daycare and my child was not picked up from school.

Yesterday was a very unique day. My son normally is in PM kindergarten, but due to a field trip he would be attending during the AM hours yesterday.

This was communicated throughout the school year between myself and the director and I spoke with the assistant director the morning of. She said it shouldn't be a problem but they'd call me if it was.

Well, they forgot to call me and he wasn't picked up from school

I got a call from the school that he was still there and the daycare van never came. It sounds like they called the other boy's mom, but must have got distracted before calling me.

I mean, my kid's fine. Daycare is less than a half mile from school, so they ran over right away and picked him up (otherwise it was going to be 20 more minutes until I could get there from work). The owner was there at the daycare when my phone call was made, and she left to get him while I was still on the phone.

Just wondering your thoughts on this.
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Play Care 11:20 AM 05-03-2018
What did they say the issue was that they couldn't get him and forgot to call? Are you happy with the care and communication otherwise? All that would weigh heavily in how I felt. If your child had been left alone or unsupervised, I would be livid and say pull and report. But he was safe and supervised at school, just a little late for pick up

If it was a simple miscommunication and day care was apologetic and we made a plan for just in case, I would probably be satisfied.
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happymom 11:28 AM 05-03-2018
Originally Posted by Play Care:
What did they say the issue was that they couldn't get him and forgot to call? Are you happy with the care and communication otherwise? All that would weigh heavily in how I felt. If your child had been left alone or unsupervised, I would be livid and say pull and report. But he was safe and supervised at school, just a little late for pick up

If it was a simple miscommunication and day care was apologetic and we made a plan for just in case, I would probably be satisfied.
Yes yes and yes.

They did what they could to make it right in the moment, my son wasn't sitting at school scared or worried (LOL but I was so worried he was!). I haven't talked again with the director, but normally AM kindergarten ends at 11:30 and because of the field trip, pick up was at 12:30. I can understand, definitely, how that happens.

I figure that the assistant director didn't realize that when she confirmed that they could pick him up with the other child (who was in the same situation as mine), but that when they notified parents they forgot that my child was effected since he is not on that normal pick up route. She believed that I had been called, but I think at that moment she realized her mistake.

But we all make mistakes, right? And he was safe at school =)
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Cat Herder 11:49 AM 05-03-2018
Here it would get them shut down for an investigation. Transporting kids is a highly regulated thing due to many annual bus deaths from being forgotten.

There is a form the driver has to print before leaving that lists each and every kid for that day. There are multiple checks and required documentation that has to be filed every run.
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happymom 12:24 PM 05-03-2018
He wasn't ever on the pick up list. They were unable to accommodate his pick up yesterday and needed me to transport from school to daycare.

They simply forgot to call me. He wasn't left on a bus or anything like that.
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Cat Herder 12:32 PM 05-03-2018
Originally Posted by happymom:
He wasn't ever on the pick up list. They were unable to accommodate his pick up yesterday and needed me to transport from school to daycare.

They simply forgot to call me. He wasn't left on a bus or anything like that.
I understand that. It would not have mattered here. It isn't punitive. It is based on the outcome. The outcome was the daycare had an unaccounted for child. The system that allowed them to not notify you that you needed to pick up, allowing the child to be left, is what would have been being investigated. An improvement plan would have been drafted and a follow-up plan to verify completion of that plan would be enforced.

It isn't personal, it is simply about improving the system so that there are no more opportunities for anyone to forget a child.
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Rockgirl 07:47 AM 08-09-2019
There’s no excuse for leaving a child. I no longer transport, but when I did, I had a system for keeping track. We checked roll while lined up by the door to leave, again after getting buckled in the van, when we exited the van at our destination, then the whole process in reverse when coming back home.

Picking up school-agers, I checked them in as they entered the van, and we didn’t leave the school until I had all expected kids, or confirmation from a parent that they shouldn’t be picked up.
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springv 10:12 AM 08-09-2019
T our center we debt transport period because of this exact reason
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springv 03:15 PM 08-10-2019
At our center we don't transport period because of this exact thing happening
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hwichlaz 03:28 PM 08-20-2019
I've forgotten schedule changes and been late because of it....for my own kid, lol. Crazy things like an hour early release so not even a half/minimum day :P

I was once 20 min late to pick up a daycare kiddo because just as we were leaving to get into the car....there was a poop explosion. I called the parent on speaker phone though, so she could let the teacher know.
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Tags:child left alone, child left at daycare, hot car death, organization, own child, priorities, transportation issues, transportation vehicles, transporting daycare kids, van driver
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