WHITE HOUSE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Sumner County parent is calling out the school district for misplacing his child.

In August, a kindergartner at H.B. Williams Elementary School in White House was allegedly released into the care of someone his parents said they didn’t know.

“It is gross, systemic negligence across the board,” Patrick Putt told News 2.

Putt said his 5-year-old son was released from school into the care of a driver taking kids to karate lessons across town. The problem is that his son doesn’t take karate lessons.

According to Putt, his son thought he heard his name called and got into the van even though he was supposed to go into the after-care program.

Adding insult to injury, Putt said, because his son never checked into after-care, the staff believed he had been absent from school.

“And there was no procedure in place because they did not identify that he was (supposed to be there),” Putt said. “So no one actually went to go look or did any kind of investigation. After-care never made a call to us.”

For nearly three hours, Putt’s son was unaccounted for. It wasn’t until Putt’s wife went to pick him up sometime after 5 p.m. that the alarms were sounded.

“There was no authorization from us given to say, 'Hey, you’re supposed to release my child to another person, another individual.' They did not notify us,” Putt said. “The school didn’t even know where he was until his mother actually says, ‘Hey, where’s my son?’”

Putt said the school made a change to their dismissal policy before this school year: instead of after-care staff taking kindergarten students to their dismissal spots, the teachers themselves are handling it.

He blamed a lack of coordination between classroom staff and after-school staff for his son being misplaced. Above all else, he believes school staff failed to pay attention.

“No school staff, employee, teacher, whoever was there to say, like, ‘Something’s not right.’ No one intervened,” Putt said.

Putt was a Marine for nearly a decade. He said nothing he saw while serving active combat compares to the feeling he had when he thought his son was missing.

“I was distraught. I really can’t put it into words," Putt said. "All I know is it felt like someone ripped my heart out, and I was totally scared."

Putt’s son just started at H.B. Williams Elementary School this year. He’s calling on Sumner County Schools to not only transfer his son out of the school but also issue a written apology to him and his family.

The concerned father shared a list of what he called “failures” by the school. They include a lack of verification during student pick-up and no process to cross-check classroom attendance with after-care attendance.

Putt said he has sent an intent-to-sue letter to the school district. However, Sumner County Schools told News 2 they have not received an official legal notice, only the letter from Putt.

The district says they have no further comment at this time.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/systemic-negligence-sumner-county-parent-says-school-lost-his-5-year-old-son/