Toronto mother says six-year-old daughter had to walk home alone after school lost track of her

The mother of a six-year-old girl is demanding answers and accountability after alleging her daughter’s teachers neglected to put her on a school bus, resulting in the young girl leaving the school unnoticed.

“Not knowing how she could have just walked out of a school full of teachers, full of other students and no one realized that this six year old was walking out the school, that’s what bothering me the most,” Sabrina Mandonca told CTV News Toronto.

Mendonca’s daughter, Analiese, is in senior kindergarten at St. Matthew Catholic School in Toronto’s west end. She takes a school bus every day and staff are required to make sure she boards the bus at the end of the day.

On Jan. 28, Mendonca says she received a phone call from her daughter’s teacher minutes before school was dismissed.

“They asked me, ‘Analiese is supposed to be picked up by a parent right? And I said, ‘no, she goes on the bus -- and they just hung up me,” Mendonca said.

Confused and startled by the call, Mendonca claims just minutes later she noticed her daughter walking alone towards their home. The school is approximately 800 metres away and would have required Analiese to cross the busy intersection of Rogers and Old Weston roads.

“To even think that she crossed main roads, to think that someone could have grabbed her, to think that she could have got distracted and not found her way home -- what she had to go through terrifies me because no six year old should be left like that,” Mendonca said.

“The fact that they lost trackof her and didn’t bother to call me to tell me they lost track of her is also what boggles my mind.”

The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) told CTV News Toronto that an investigation was conducted immediately at the school upon learning of the incident, which included a review of protocols.

“Additional safety measures have been implemented, including ensuring two staff members accompany students to the school bus. The implementation of these safety measures will further aid in preventing future incidents at the school,” the statement read.

Mendonca said her daughter is currently being assessed for autism and her speech is limited. She said that the school’s principal apologized and the school had promised a teacher would ensure her daughter properly and safely boards the bus.

“No one can really explain the full story of what moment she went missing and when was the last time somebody saw her,” she said. “If it was the other way around, I would be held accountable.”

For the time being, Mendonca is keeping her daughter at home, until she gets an explanation of exactly what happened.

“Clearly, there is some kind of fault in these procedures,” Mendonca said.