Baltimore City Public Schools faces growing scrutiny after multiple families said their children with autism were able to leave school unnoticed by staff.
Now, the families plan to take legal action against the district.
Attorney Thiru Vignarajah claimed one of the incidents happened Tuesday, when a 10-year-old boy wandered away from Westport Elementary School. The boy’s mother said she found out her son wasn’t at school through a doorbell camera alert.
Mitchell Wright Sr. said his son with autism was able to leave unnoticed from the Academy for College and Career Exploration in North Baltimore and was assaulted by other students.
Wright opened up, alongside another family and their attorney, in front of the North Avenue district office on Thursday.
“Failure. Failure on the leadership,” Wright said. “(It’s) a disservice to each and every one of our autism children’s families, communities, taxpayers, investors. It’s a great failure, that’s all I can say.”
“What was heartbreaking to me was the horrific parallels between the stories,” Vignarajah said.
The Williams family said their 7-year-old child, also with autism, was able to leave Furley Elementary School and board a Maryland Transit Administration bus. They said he was later found with help from an Apple AirTag that they had placed on him.
“Thankfully, they were able to track their child down. A passenger on the bus, some several hours later, also made a call,” Vignarajah said.
The families came forward one week after another parent announced her intent to sue the district. Belinda Curry said on May 6 that her 6-year-old son, Liam, was found hours after leaving Fallstaff Elementary School wandering to a shopping center across a busy street.
“I’m mad that they dropped the ball. Luckily, through the grace of God, Liam wasn’t hurt,” Curry said on May 6.
All the families said they plan to sue the district.
In response, City Schools said in a statement: “We never want any child or family to have a negative or traumatic experience at school, and we understand the concern this litigation may cause for students, families and the broader school community.
“The trust families place in City Schools to care for and support their children is something we take very seriously. That is why we have safeguards in place to promote student safety, especially for our students with disabilities.
“We will continue to cooperate fully with the legal process, but because this is an active legal matter, we are limited in what we can say publicly at this time.”
