Hamilton mom outraged her child left unattended outside ’17 times’

A Hamilton mom is sounding the alarm again after learning her special needs daughter was left outside and unattended Thursday at Mary Hopkins Elementary School.

For Melissa Stevens, hearing that her seven-year-old daughter Peyton had been left outside without adult supervision while at school is becoming too common.

She said that this has now happened 17 times.

Stevens says that the most recent incident happened Thursday.

“I got a call from the Before and After care program – they alert me every time they have Peyton – saying they found Peyton out on the field, at the very end of the field trying to escape it,” she said.

Stevens says she was told that a teacher had sent Peyton and another classmate to go to the bathroom from a portable, with just ten minutes until dismissal.

“She didn’t even know that they didn’t come back,” Stevens said.

CHCH News spoke with Stevens back in September, when a similar incident happened.

At that time, another parent of a child with special needs at the school shared the same concerns.

Stevens says the school board isn’t doing enough and believes there are not enough educational assistants at the school to handle vulnerable children like her Peyton.

“She doesn’t have a sense of danger – one of three things will happen: she’ll get hurt – seriously bodily injured; she’ll get kidnapped;  or she’ll get killed by a car.”

She says the school board hasn’t been cooperative, and she’s running out of patience.

“I’m contacting a lawyer,” Stevens said. “I can’t – I still have to send her to school so I can work. I don’t wanna be homeless, but in the meantime I am in the process of looking for a lawyer and going after the board for this.”

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