‘Where’s the supervision?’: Family speaks out after 6-year-old wanders off from school

By Tori Yorgey

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    BALTIMORE (WBAL) — A 6-year-old wandered away from school grounds last week, navigating himself to a busy shopping plaza over half a mile away, according to his family.

“I got the call around 3:20, 3:25-ish (on Wednesday),” said Belinda Curry, the child’s mother. “It was (the principal) and he was telling me Liam didn’t want to stay after-school and Liam, you know, he went missing.”

Curry said the principal told her that her son had walked out of the school during dismissal. She said her son walked over half a mile and across the busy Reisterstown Road to Reisterstown Plaza.

“When (the principal) said Reisterstown Plaza, I instantly started crying, just thinking of what could have happened. I mean, crossing the street to get to Five Below, crossing Reisterstown Plaza, where a lot of adults have perished,” Curry said. “I was totally flabbergasted.”

She said school officials found her son at the Five Below store in the plaza. She said she was notified after her child had already been found and taken back to the school.

“He was like, ‘Well, we found him.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, but nobody called me (beforehand).’ Not one apology was thrown at us. The security is not what it’s supposed to be,” Curry said. “By the grace of God is why he’s OK, you know. But other than that, that he’s not going back to Fallstaff.”

11 News reached out to Baltimore City Public Schools, asking about the incident and relaying that the mother said the police were never called. A City Schools representative replied with the following statement:

“The safety and well-being of every student in our care is our highest priority. While the child was found safe, we understand the seriousness of this incident. City Schools is actively reviewing what happened so we can take meaningful steps to ensure it does not happen again.”

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