3 year old boy with autism left alone at special education school for hours

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    SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (KTBS) — The mother of a non-verbal autistic child will have to wait until Wednesday to find out why her son was never escorted to the bus after school.

For two hours Tuesday evening, the three-year-old was left unattended in a dark classroom.

KTBS 3’s Brenda Teele spoke with the mother just hours after being reunited with her child at 81st Street ECE Center in Shreveport.

“Anything, he could have picked up something, he could have swallowed anything,” said Tekiyah Evans.

She took a video of the classroom that shows that her son had been playing with classroom materials while left alone in an unlit classroom.

“You know, as a mother, I pick up, I’m watching, his siblings are watching. We see him. But for nobody to be paying attention. Anything could have been could have happened in the classroom,” said Evans.

Kyler has been a student at 81st Street for Early Childhood Special Education since October.

His mother found a sign-out sheet showing her son as checked out of the school to ride the bus home. But rather than greeting her son as usual at the bus stop, several miles away the school bus driver said, “Are you waiting for someone?”

Evans continued, “I said yes, I’m waiting on my son. I say his name. And she hollered back to the paraprofessional that helps her on the bus. And she said, Oh, he’s not here”.

After he didn’t get off the bus, Evans says, she drove straight to the school several miles away. When she arrived, she banged on the door. A janitor heard the knocking and let her in.

“I actually knew my baby’s classroom. So I’m making my way to the classroom. And the janitor is actually coming out the room with my son in her hand,” said Evans.

Thankfully, her son is fine. She says he was wearing the harness placed on him for the bus ride home. She’s now waiting to find out how her son was left behind.

“Everybody was texting the principal. The principal wasn’t picking up the phone. She finally called me and told me she will deal with this tomorrow,” recalled Evans.

KTBS 3 contacted Caddo Parish School spokeswoman Mary Nash Wood. She said, “We are fully investigating the situation and take the allegations seriously. The care of our students and their safety are a top priority”.

Evans said, “So I feel like as a school and working with kids of this nature, you should make sure you double check, make sure you he’s a runner, you should grab him by the hand and make sure he’s actually placed and know where kids are before you even close the door, cut the light off”.

The family says that according to the Shreveport Police Department, this is considered to be a case of child endangerment.

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