RALEIGH, N.C. — Parents of a 5-year-old Wake County Elementary school student are demanding change after their child left the school campus unattended for 20 minutes.
Carpenter Elementary kindergartner, Owen Clancy, was walking by himself on a busy street outside of the school. School officials say they take the blame, but his family says they’re needs to be change.
“I went around and went down the hill,” said Owen.
During his third day of kindergarten at Carpenter Elementary, Owen says he missed his mom and wanted to go home.
“I went out the front door,” he said.
“Nobody saw you,” said CBS North Carolina.
“No,” said Owen.
Nobody tried to stop you,” asked CBS North Carolina.
“No,” said Owen.
For 20 minutes Owen was walking alone along the four-lane street outside of the school.
His mom, Svetla Clancy, says the school called and told her about the incident, but did not give any of the details of what happened.
“I got a message from the parent who found him and she said, ‘I’m the one that found your child’ and I said ‘Wait a minute found my child?’,” said Svetla Clancy.
For more than a month, Owen’s parents say they waited anxiously for the school district to take action, last week they received from the school saying “the appropriate action has been taken” however it states “the specific details of the investigation by law are confidential.”
“It doesn’t really tell you much of anything,” said Bill Clancy, Owen’s dad.
The Clancy’s says that’s not enough and a change needs to happen. They say the school district should be held to the same standards any parent would be held to.
“There is no repercussions. What would have happened if he got hurt?” said Bill Clancy.
The parents say they waited for the district to make a decision, now they’re going to the media, because they do not want this to happen to anyone else’s child.
“If something happens to a child because I didn’t speak up, how am I going to lay at night and think it’s OK?” said Svetla Clancy
Officials with Wake County Schools say procedures have been put in place to make sure this incident does not happen again.