A 5-year-old boy was found wandering alone unsupervised near a fast food restaurant when he was supposed to be at a North Park Elementary School after-school program, the boy’s father said as the mother wept during public comment at Tuesday’s Saugus Union School District governing board meeting.
When the mother called the supervisor of the after-school program to check in on her son, the supervisor told her that Oliver was indeed in their care, but meanwhile he was already in the nanny’s car on his way home, Brett Epstein told the school board.
Some governing board members acknowledged the incident during board reports, but were vague due to student and employee privacy laws.
Brett Epstein, the father of 5-year-old Oliver, told The Signal on Tuesday afternoon that he received a call from his nanny stating that his son was spotted alone and unsupervised near a McDonald’s about a mile away from the school site. The incident occurred on Nov. 4.
The supervisor didn’t “put the phone down. She didn’t say, ‘Let me go check for you. I maybe saw him an hour ago or 30 minutes ago, but let me just verify for you,’” Epstein said.
The 5-year-old was dismissed from classes at 12:20 p.m., Epstein said, and Oliver was found alone about three hours later.
If Oliver wouldn’t have been spotted by his nanny, “We would have had a missing kid’s case. He could have been abducted. He could have been hit by a car,” Epstein said, frustrated. “Thank God he wasn’t killed or abducted, because this whole story would have been a lot different.”
Now, the boy’s parents are demanding answers as to how the child could have possibly walked away from campus, and his absence went unnoticed for so long, he said, calling it gross negligence and a critical safety failure.
“Think about what I’m telling you. Our 5-year-old son crossed busy streets alone. He walked past strangers, any one of whom could have abducted him. He was one distracted driver, one wrong turn and one predator away from a news story that destroys families,” Epstein told the board during public comment with his wife beside him. “The only reason we are not planning a funeral, or still possibly searching for our missing child tonight, is blind luck, and not because the people we trusted to protect him were doing their job.”
A similar incident occurred in 2019 at the same school site, Epstein said during public comment, where the child went unnoticed and “this is not an isolated incident but rather a pattern of negligence, and has been allowed to continue for years.”
When Epstein asked for answers, he said school employees stated that substitutes were the reason for the error, and he was given mixed responses as to why the door was unlocked and unsupervised.
“I’ve been told that the gate that Oliver walked out of should have been locked at all times. However, we’ve also been told it’s a fire hazard. Which one is it?” he asked. “We were also told that substitutes were working that day. Almost to blame them for not being trained up to par and up to date on protocol.”
Epstein’s son has since been pulled from the afterschool program, and the program supervisor continues to be employed, he said.
“We haven’t slept through the night. We replay every horrific possibility in our mind,” he said. “Our son walked a mile unaccounted for, that’s at least 30 minutes, possibly longer. What protocols fail so catastrophically? The question that terrifies us most, how many other children could be at risk in the future?”
Numerous public comments following Epstein empathized with his family, many giving emotional apologies and demanding the board to acknowledge the incident and give them a solution.
Governing board member Matthew Watson acknowledged the incident during board reports, and said that, due to student and employee privacy laws, they could not comment further on the incident but said he hoped Superintendent Colleen Hawkins and staff would be in contact with the Epstein family to reassure them that their son would be safe moving forward.
Hawkins responded and said SUSD Director of Categorical and Special Programs Katie Demsher was in communication with the family.
Governing board member Katherine Cooper emotionally shared a similar incident that occurred to her son. Her son left their home in the middle of the night, and they were only notified by a sheriff’s deputy, she said.
“I will not be allowed to have specific information on your child, but certainly can make my feelings,” be known, Cooper said.
“There’s really nothing that I can say that’s going to make the situation any better. It’s just excuses at this point,” board member Anna Griese said during her report. “I’m hoping that you guys get some resolution to the problem that addresses your guys’ needs and actually helps the community of North Park, so that no other family experiences that, and I apologize that you experienced the same thing, but there’s really nothing that I can say that’s going to help the situation.”
“It’s really up to the district and the board to hold the (program) accountable. And as a reminder, it takes majority to actually set policy,” Griese added.
