Riverside Elementary kindergartener left school and walked home, Rockville Centre superintendent confirms
A Rockville Centre elementary school student left a playground Wednesday and walked home, the district's superintendent confirmed Thursday.
During an outdoor activity, the Riverside Elementary School kindergartener "climbed the fence at the property line and walked home," schools Superintendent Matthew Gaven said in a letter to the community.
School officials notified police at 11:16 a.m. that a child was missing, Julie Grilli, a spokeswoman for the Village of Rockville Centre, said Thursday morning. Police and first responders from the fire department went to the school, but at 11:26 a.m. police received a call from the child’s family reporting that the child was at home, Grilli said.
Police and fire officials visited the child’s home to make sure the child was well, Grilli said. She said no further information was available.
In his letter to the community, Gaven said, "We take this matter extremely seriously. The district is conducting a thorough review of our supervision practices."
That review, he said, will include "re-training staff on active supervision practices, strengthening headcount and line-up procedures" and going over campus security measures such as fencing and gates.
"We know this news may cause concern," he wrote. "We want to assure you that your child’s safety is, and will remain, our top priority."
At dismissal Thursday, some parents expressed worry about the incident.
“I’m not happy to know that someone was able to just walk away from the playground,” said Dawn Natale, who has a second grader at the school. “I hope they put in better measures ... It shouldn’t have happened.”
But Jack Reilly, who has lived across the street from the schoolyard for more than 40 years, said school officials are “pretty tight on their security,” sometimes with multiple supervisors overseeing the children.
“I was surprised that a kid escaped, you know, but kids are kids,” said Reilly, 81, a retired FDNY captain whose granddaughter attended Riverside Elementary School. “You blink and there’s a guy going left or right. But they’re good over there, they really are.”
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
