Kindergartener Escapes School in Upstate New York

A kindergartener at an upstate New York elementary school wandered off during school hours on Monday and was found uninjured waist-deep in a nearby pond.

A scary situation unfolded on Monday during school hours at the Kensington Elementary School in Glens Falls, New York when one child in a 12-student kindergarten class escaped recess and wandered off to nearby Crandall Pond which is approximately 700 feet from the school.

Kindergartener Escapes School Found Waist Deep in Pond

It all started around recess at the Glens Falls City School District elementary school when monitors realized the child was missing from the class according to WTEN. Dr. Krislynn Dengler, the superintendent of Glens Falls City School District said the school responded immediately,

"It was noted that he was missing so 911 was called. And as I arrived there I became aware that a passerby had gotten him. The passerby was holding him until EMS, police, fire arrived also and then mom was called, of course."

 

Found Waist Deep in Pond

According to reports the 5-year-old student apparently wandered off from the back of the school’s playground to the pond where the boy was later found by a community member waist-deep in the water. School officials said that at least four monitors were watching the kindergarten class during recess when the boy got away. It’s a situation that the superintendent said has never gone this far saying, "Not to this extent, it is not a typical incident of course, we do have occasional students that have a flag on their file that says they’re an elopement risk, we did not have that on this child but we do now.”

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Staff are also still trying to figure out how the 5-year-old got so far away from school.

New Safety Measures in Place

School officials did say that this situation has led the school to reorganize recess safety by adding new fencing around the playground, new radios for recess supervisors, and updating safety protocols. The school also plans to put recess supervisors in better positions so that they are covering more of the playground and can have eyes on the children at all times.