A 7-year-old girl from Brockton, Massachusetts was found safe after a harrowing mix-up on Friday, where she was mistakenly placed in the wrong transport van following school dismissal. The young student from Angelo Elementary School ended up at a Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South location, far from home, sparking a brief, but intense search by local authorities.
The alarm was first raised in the afternoon right after the school had released its students early for the holiday break. The Brockton police issued a plea for public assistance, circulating surveillance images of a black Kia minivan that ferried the girl away from school grounds, a statement obtained by WCVB, confirming that she had been inadvertently placed on an unknown private transportation van.
Despite initial distress, the story took a fortunate turn when Winthrop Farwell, Jr., a Brockton City Councilor at Large shared on social media that the girl had been located at the Boys and Girls Club.
“Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South is deeply grateful that the 7-year-old Brockton student reported missing from the Angelo Elementary School this evening has been reunited with her family! While the student is not a BGCMS member, we are thankful that she was safe and well cared for at our Brockton Clubhouse after mistakenly boarding a Club van at school dismissal time. BGCMS will be working closely with Brockton Public Schools to review our policies and practices related to transportation to/from schools and our Clubhouse to ensure student safety at every level along our continuum of care,” said the organization in a statement reported by Boston 25 News. The Club also signaled its commitment to review and tighten its transportation protocols in collaboration with the Brockton Public Schools.
The Brockton Public Schools, for their part, acknowledged the incident in a statement sharing that the child boarded an incorrect bus that transported her to a local childcare institution where she remained until reunited with her family. The district is expected to work alongside BGCMS to reassess and bolster the safeguards surrounding student transportation.
