An East Elmwood daycare is making some major adjustments to their safety protocol after a child was left behind in a playground Tuesday.
A man standing nearby found the girl wandering in a sandbox all by herself, and says he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Just over the rise, where the sandbox was, the kid was playing over there. And when the daycare workers went across and took all the kids back, I guess they missed one,” said Joel Pelletier.
Pelletier rushed to the playground and grabbed the girl by the hand. He returned her to the nearby Play 'N' Learn Preschool. But he says, the daycare was lucky it was him that found her.
“If I was a bad guy, that poor child would have been done. Would have been gone,” added Pelletier.
Pelletier posted about the incident on social media where people were just as shocked.
The daycare says they are taking the situation very seriously, and are issuing apologies to parents. Play ‘N’ Learn director Patricia Olson says, this will never happen again.
“It is unacceptable. I agree it’s unacceptable. I don’t accept it. But people do make mistakes, and we have to forgive those people. And I forgive the staff member for doing it,” said Olson.
The daycare says they are changing their safety measures effective immediately. Instead of the entire group heading to the playground together, the kids will be broken up, so staff can keep a better eye out for anything like this.
An investigation will take place into the licensed facility.
