'That is not acceptable': CMS parent furious after 5-year-old walked out of school by herself

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parent is furious after she told Channel 9 her 5-year-old walked out of school by herself and down the road.

Neighbor Tawana Lowery said she watched the little girl walk across the school ground, cross the street, and start to walk home from Marie G. Davis Middle School.

"I saw my neighbor's 5-year-old, she was coming out of, off the school campus, and I was looking around wondering, like where's her mom," Lowery said.

Lowery said she asked the child where she was going. The little girl said she had an early dismissal at school and was going home.

Lowery said she followed the girl back home, but when no one answered the door, Lowery said she took the child back to school.

"She's a 5-year-old kindergartner and she walked off the property, all the way home, and nobody even knew that she was gone and I want to know why because that is not acceptable," Lowery said.

Once the child was returned to school, the child's mother Haben Amam said she received a call from the school resource officer.

"It's the school resource officer and he says that your child had an incident, she's OK, but she walked out of school. It was an early dismissal, but it was a mistake," Amam said.

Amam said they told her another parent was there to pick up their child for early dismissal with the same last name and they mistakenly called the wrong teacher to release the wrong student.

Amam said her daughter usually does walk home, but normally she meets her at the office or a staff member walks the children outside to meet their parents.

"I was scared, thinking my child is at school, but really roaming, walking around. She was crying when she got home, telling me she was a walker, and I wasn't there to pick her up," Amam said.

Amam said she is very grateful to her neighbor for spotting her daughter, but she is incredibly shaken by the incident.

"Oh, I was up all night with the 'what ifs' just imagining what could've happened, thinking of the worst," Amam said.

CMS told me safety is their top priority and "the district is reviewing the protocol at Marie G. Davis K-8 to ensure that students are never allowed to leave campus without appropriate adult supervision or a dismissal plan in coordination with a parent."

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