Child Left At Amusement Park After School Trip
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”No child left behind” seems not to have applied to a recent PS 41 trip to Adventures Amusement Park in Brooklyn. NY1’s Lindsey Christ filed the following report.Two weeks ago, three busloads of students from Brooklyn's PS 41 went to Adventures Amusement Park to celebrate their kindergarten graduation.
“I went on the pony ride, I went on the caterpillar ride and I went on the froggy ride,” said Jai Clemendore, a 6-year-old student.
But what she didn't get to ride was the bus back to school.
“When I came out the bathroom, my teacher wasn't there,” said Clemendore. “She was already on the highway.”
Jai was lucky. She had her father's phone number memorized.
“I said, ‘Daddy, I'm in the amusement park with a man,’" said Clemendore.
“I run to the school and I'm like, ‘Y'all left my daughter at the trip?’ and they goes, "Oh my God, I'm going get the park on the phone now.’ They didn't even know my daughter was missing,” said Fay Clemendore, Jai’s mom.
Jai's father drove to the amusement park to pick up the teary little girl.
“Not the school staff. Nobody at the school brought her back to me. Her father brought her back to me,” said Fay.
She said the teacher explained they'd forgotten to count the students until the buses were moving. They eventually realized they were short a child.
“They kept saying, someone's missing, someone's missing, but they didn't turn back to go get her. It wasn't until I ran in the building they realized who was missing,” said Fay.
Department of Education officials say the incident is under investigation. Meanwhile, the mother wants to transfer all of her children out of this school but so far, she's had a difficult time getting approval.
According to Fay, the school told her she needed a police report, and the police told her she needed a lawyer. While Jai's teacher was the one in charge during the trip, the chancellor's regulations say school principals are ultimately responsible for making sure students are returned safely back to the schools.
As for Jai, she said she loved kindergarten but now doesn't want to go back to school.