GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids Public School officials are investigating after a 6-year-old student was found wandering the streets after school let out.
The incident comes the day after a student wandered away from a Jenison elementary school and ended up in a nearby lake.
In the Grand Rapids case, a Burton Elementary kindergartner missed her bus and walked a half mile before she was found by three good Samaritans.
Staff members at Burton were supposed to make sure 6-year-old Nevaeh Cook and her follow classmates get on their bus. But somehow, Nevaeh didn't Thursday afternoon.
“She could have got into the streets or anything, you know. It's like they did not ever care," Nevaeh's mother Precious Stewart told 24 Hour News 8.
Instead of going back inside, the frightened and confused child left the school in the 2100 block of Buchanan Avenue SW and made her way north.
Fortunately, two teenagers found her about half a mile away on Stafford Avenue. A resident overheard the teens talking to the girl, trying to figure out how to get her home. The resident stepped in and called police, who called Stewart.
“For all of this time, she was wandering the streets, a 6-year-old wandering the streets by herself. My kids don't go outside by themselves," Stewart said. "Anything could have happened to my child on the streets. She could have went to the wrong person. She was looking for help.”
Stewart blamed staffers at Burton for not getting her daughter on the bus and for not realizing she was missing.
FULL STORY: WOOD TV