KANSAS CITY, Mo. - An elementary school in the Raytown School District is now changing its dismissal procedures after a second grader could not be located.
Shanita Alkhaaliq told 41 Action News she recieved a call Wednesday afternoon that her 7-year-old son, Izayah, was not at Great Expectations, an Eastwood Hills Elementary after-school program.
She was on her way to pick him up.
"I lost it. I felt very empty inside and scared no knowing how he is handling this," Alkhaaliq said. "I was driving around, yelling his name, looking for him and he was nowhere to be found."
Eventually, Alkhaaliq said she found her son wandering around their neighborhood alone.
"I was kinda sad and scared," Izayah told 41 Action News.
Instead of walking to the cafeteria for the after-school program, Izayah jumped on the school bus. But on early release days, such as Wednesday, he is supposed to stay at school for Great Expectations.
41 Action News reached out to the district. In a statement, Raytown School District said the incident was a result of a "breakdown in communication," and said they will be putting reinforcements in place to make sure this does not happen again.
"After a thorough investigation of the incident, school and Great Expectation Staff reviewed all of the policies and procedures and moving forward, Great Expectations staff will execute an additional verification to ensure that students enrolled in Great Expectation are in the correct dismissal line prior to being escorted to the aftercare location and prior to the bus dismissal. This verification process will occur in the hallways outside of classroom doors under the direct supervision of Great Expectations staff and classroom teachers."
Alkhaaliq said she hopes this will never happen again.
"This is a mistake that just can't happen again. I am fortunate that I was able to find my son but I don't want this to happen to anybody's child," she said.
