SALEM, OR (KPTV) -
A mix-up at a Salem elementary school left a kindergartner in the hands of a complete stranger and sent his mother into a state of panic.
It happened Tuesday afternoon at Morningside Elementary School on 3513 12th St.
It was supposed to be an exciting first day of kindergarten for 5-year-old Teylor Kobernik. It's a day his mother said he had been looking forward to all summer.
"He was really excited to go," said Teylor's mother, Windy Holm.
But that all changed when it was time to go home, and teachers at the school insisted Teylor should get in the car with an employee of Adventures Unlimited Childcare instead of going home on the bus, like his mom told him to.
"I didn't know who she was, and I didn't know the car, and I was crying for my mom," said Teylor. "The lady told me that my mom knew I was going to her place, but I knew that was a lie."
Teylor said he cried all the way to the daycare, demanding to talk to his mom.
"I thought my mom didn't know where I was," said Teylor.
FOX 12 spoke with the daycare who said it was the school who insisted they pick Teylor up, even though they had no record of him attending there.
When Teylor never came home from his first day of school, Holm said she was terrified.
"The school is supposed to protect them you know," said Holm. "Once they go out of your hands and they're gone, you expect the school is going to do what they're supposed to do and make sure they get home safely."
Holm called the school and says at first, the school didn't know where Teylor was either. After searching through their paperwork though, she says they figured out they accidentally sent him to the wrong place.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools issued this statement to FOX 12 about the incident:
"The school did make a mistake in sending the child to daycare instead of the school bus and apologized to the parent for it. We are sure the same mistake will not happen again. We took this incident very seriously and totally understand the anxiety the parent and child both felt."
Holm says she's signed multiple forms at the school which all expressed clearly that she wanted her 5-year-old to ride home on the bus.
She says she can't quite wrap her head around why the school sent him to a daycare she's never even heard of.
"Luckily it turned out that he was safe and sound, but who knows who they would have put him in the car with. Luckily this time it was a nice lady," said Holm.
Holm plans to meet with the principal of the school Friday to get some answers into how this mix-up all happened.
Right now, Holm says she's considering switching schools altogether.
Administrators with the district say since the incident, they have rechecked all student paperwork and are positive this won't happen again.
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