Students disappear from after-school program at Jersey City's School 27

Published: Tuesday, June 07, 2011, 8:45 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A Jersey City father is furious with the Jersey City public schools after his 8-year-old daughter and a female classmate disappeared for nearly four hours from School 27?s after-school program.

The 8-year-old?s father said he has asked school officials to explain how the girls could have left the school, located at 201 North St., at Kennedy Boulevard, at 4 p.m. on May 16 without anyone noticing.

The girls were found unharmed at 7:45 p.m. that night nearly a mile away to the east, near Washington Park in Union City.

The 35-year-old man, who asked not to be identified, said school officials have not responded to his questions.
?They just don?t care,? he said.

The school district is investigating the incident, said district spokeswoman Paula Christen.

The girls were present when a School 27 teacher took attendance inside the school?s cafeteria at 3 p.m. on May 16, but when the 8-year-old girl?s mother arrived to pick her up, the teacher discovered the girls were gone, according to a police report.

The mother called the police, who joined school officials and the parents for a nearly four-hour search for the missing students.

Three teachers, who went out on their own to search for the girls, eventually found them across from 100 Manhattan Ave. in Union City, near Washington Park. The girls said they ?wanted to go to the park and play,? according to the report.

Christen said the two girls left through the school?s back door, which is usually left unlocked for parents who wish to exit that way with their children after school.
That door will now be locked, and parents and staff will have to exit through the front, where a security guard is stationed, she said.

The father said he pays from $110 to $150 monthly for the after-school program, known as CASPER, because both he and his wife work. He and his wife decided to pull both of their daughters out of CASPER after the incident.

School officials ?were not concerned about the kids? safety,? he said.