UPDATE: A shocking incident at North Park Elementary School has left a family in anguish after their 5-year-old son was found wandering alone, unsupervised, approximately a mile from campus. This alarming event occurred on November 4, raising serious concerns about the safety protocols of the school’s after-school program.
During a tense meeting of the Saugus Union School District governing board on Tuesday, the boy’s father, Brett Epstein, revealed that his son, Oliver Epstein, was discovered near a McDonald’s after being dismissed from classes at 12:20 p.m. Oliver was not located until nearly three hours later, prompting Epstein to express his outrage and fear for his son’s safety.
Epstein recounted receiving a call from his nanny, who had spotted Oliver alone and unsupervised. “If Oliver wouldn’t have been spotted by his nanny, we would have had a missing kid’s case,” he stated, highlighting the potential dangers his son faced, including the risk of abduction or being struck by a vehicle. The father described the situation as a “gross negligence and a critical safety failure.”
As the emotional mother wept during public comments, Epstein demanded to know how his son could wander off unnoticed. “Our 5-year-old son crossed busy streets alone. He was one distracted driver, one wrong turn, and one predator away from a news story that destroys families,” he said, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.
Board members acknowledged the incident but refrained from disclosing specifics due to student and employee privacy laws. Epstein cited a previous similar incident in 2019 at the same school, asserting that the problems with supervision have persisted. He criticized the school for blaming substitutes for the lapse in safety protocols.
“There’s really nothing that I can say that’s going to help the situation,” said board member Anna Griese, expressing her frustration over the incident. Meanwhile, Superintendent Colleen Hawkins assured the board that the school will communicate with the Epstein family to ensure their son’s safety moving forward.
The emotional fallout from this incident has sparked a wave of public sympathy, with many attendees at the board meeting offering their support and demanding accountability from school officials. “We haven’t slept through the night. We replay every horrific possibility in our mind,” Epstein admitted, now fearing for the safety of other children in the district.
This urgent situation highlights a critical need for immediate review and reform of safety measures within the after-school program to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. As the Epstein family grapples with the emotional toll of this experience, they are calling for substantive changes to ensure no other child is placed in such a precarious situation.
The community is now left to ponder: What steps will be taken to safeguard the children at North Park Elementary School? The Epstein family has pulled Oliver from the after-school program, but questions about overall safety and staff accountability remain unanswered.
As developments unfold, parents and community members are urged to stay informed and advocate for necessary changes to protect their children.
