A Spring Valley mother is calling for accountability after her five-year-old so was found wandering the streets unsupervised when he was supposed to be in an afterschool program.
Mariah Mora says she was overwhelmed with fear and disbelief when she received a call from the San Diego Police Department on the afternoon of December 12.
“I was crying, my husband was crying — we were all freaking out, trying to get down there and get him,” Mora said.
Her son, a kindergartener at Zamorano Elementary, was supposed to be in his afterschool program run by PrimeTime, a contractor for the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). Instead, he was found alone, covered in dirt, after wandering for about an hour.
“When we saw him, we were all crying,” Mora shared.
Mora says she contacted PrimeTime on her way to the school, but the program gave conflicting information.
“They said they had him and then hung up on me. I called back, and they said they didn’t have him,” she explained.
In a statement, SDUSD confirmed that poor judgment by a PrimeTime employee led to the incident and shared their response:
“Student safety is of the utmost importance to the San Diego Unified School District. Poor judgement by an employee of our contracted after school provider resulted in the child leaving the site unsupervised. We have spoken with the contractor and employee, reinforced our expectations about student safety and enacted corrective measures to prevent a similar incident in the future. It’s important for San Diego Unified families to know we’ve met with the student's parents to receive feedback and apologize, and that we are committed to keeping all students safe on our school campuses.”
While the school’s principal has apologized and assured Mora that the incident is under review, she hopes the corrective actions will bring lasting change.
“I hope they take it seriously and change the way they do things. I hope the protocol sticks for the rest of this school year and continues into the next,” she said.
