Mom Upset After Daughter Allowed To Walk Home From School Alone
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A mother is outraged after she says her 6-year-old daughter was allowed to walk home alone from school in the middle of the day.
"We get a knock at the door and my sister-in-law saw Zoe standing there alone. No adult, nobody was there," Danielle Maglio said.
Turns out, Zoe walked home alone from school on Monday morning after telling a campus security guard she wasn't feeling well.
"She was panting and scared as well," her mother said.
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Danielle Maglio said the guard at Everglades K-8 Center in Westchester helped her daughter cross the street and then let her keep walking.
The girl walked several blocks and made a couple of turns to reach her destination.
It took her about ten minutes.
In all, she traveled nearly half a mile by herself.
"I was really shocked that she remembered her way to the house. Especially since she has autism. I was really shocked," Zoe's aunt Cynthia Maglio told CBS4's Lauren Pastrana.
Danielle Maglio said she immediately went to the school, and when she got there, people were frantically searching for her daughter.
Now she's demanding more on-campus supervision for Zoe, who was diagnosed with autism last fall.
"Where were you when my 6 year old daughter walked off campus," she said she asked of the school administration. "What is wrong with this picture?"
A district spokesman issued a statement which said, "Miami-Dade County Public Schools has strict guidelines in place to ensure student safety. Today, there was a breach of protocol by a school employee who did not follow those guidelines. The employee has been terminated and will not be rehired."
Zoe's mom is glad action was taken, but is still worried about her daughter's safety.
"I'm always going to wonder, 'Am I gonna get another knock on my door?'"
The Maglios are considering taking legal action.
In the meantime, Danielle Maglio wants an assistant to be placed with her daughter to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.
