A mother says she is “scared” to take her son back to kindergarten at a Toronto Catholic District School Board school for his second day after he managed to escape his classroom while unsupervised by staff.

Carla Godinho told CTV News Toronto on Tuesday evening that her son Jacob's first day of kindergarten at Saint Nicholas of Bari Separate School did not end well when she found him alone “frantically” crying outside of his classroom.

Jacob is non-verbal and suffers from autism.

Godinho dropped off Jacob at his new school at 9 a.m. Tuesday and handed him off to school staff before dropping off her daughter at her classroom in the same school.

After dropping off her daughter, Godinho went to check to ensure Jacob was still in his classroom under supervision, which he was.

She then left the school for a bit before returning to fill out paper work at the office.

“As I was approaching the school I heard a child crying in the kindergarten playground and when I got closer I noticed it was Jacob,” she said. “He was running around frantically crying out and there was nobody around – there were no adults around.”

Godinho added that about 10 other parents were outside and witnessed this incident.

The kindergarten classroom door was closed but the gate leading to the street was open, Jacob’s mother said.

“He didn’t notice that the gate was open,” she said. “That’s the only reason that he didn’t run onto the street.”

Godinho did not know how long he was left unattended outside but said “five minutes would have been too long.”

“He can’t speak,” she said. “He can’t explain what’s wrong or what he needs. He couldn’t tell someone what his name was or to call his mother.”

Jacob’s mother said she was told by the principal of the school that every kindergarten classroom has a door that leads to the playground area for their age group and each of these doors has an alarm on it. But, she said the alarm was not properly in place during this time therefore allowing her son to open the door without prompting an audio alert.

Godinho said she was previously warned by the school that support staff would not be available for Jacob for a full day of school and that is why she enrolled him for mornings only.

Spokesperson for TCDSB John Yan said in an email that a student with autism did manage to open a classroom door on Tuesday leading outside into a gated area for kindergarten students.

“He was quickly noticed and brought in by another parent,” Yan said. “The teacher and early childhood educator were already aware of his absence in the class and were on the way to find him.”

“The safety of all our students is always the first priority at the TCDSB. The principal and teacher immediately informed the parent of the incident.”

Yan said further information about the child has been provided by the mother to prevent similar occurrences.

“(The information) will assist them (the staff) in ensuring the student remains closely supervised as the situation requires,” he said.

Godinho said she wants other parents to be aware so that they don't find themselves in a similar situation.

“If I’ve experience it I’m sure other parents have as well,” she said. “And I want to bring as much awareness to this as possible so that no other child goes through this.”

“I fear that it’s going to happen again. Unless the concerns are addressed and the proper support person is put in place for him there’s no guarantee that it won’t happen again tomorrow and the next day.”

Jacob's mother is set to meet with school officials Wednesday to discuss the matter further.