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5-year-old told to walk home (and his mother, of course, has a nervous breakdown)
Copyright © 2005 TWEAN d.b.a. News 10 Now ^ | Updated: 1/20/2005 7:07 AM | By: Carmen Grant, News 10 Now Web Staff

Posted on 01/20/2005 4:49:01 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines

SYRACUSE NY--When Lynnee Westbrook thinks about what her son went through her eyes well up. She says her two children take the school bus everyday, so she can't understand why the vice principal at McKinley Brighton told her 5-year-old son to walk home.

Under school policy, students must live more than a mile and a half to be bused. School spokesperson Neil Driscoll says Kevin is listed as a walker and lives on Newell Street, a block away from the school. Westbrook says they actually live on West Brighton Avenue and she doesn't know how the school got that information. She says her son walked several blocks to his daycare, where he gets dropped off after school.

"My baby who is 5-years-old who never walked anywhere a day in his life has to cross over major intersections to get to school to daycare. I felt that was very unacceptable," Westbrook said.

Westbrook says when she contacted the school, the vice principal had no knowledge of her child and said her son may have gotten confused with another conversation she was having with an older student.

"What's the need for him to walk? Why wasn't I informed? If he if missed his bus or whatever, you know that was my point. Nobody contacted me or they didn't contact emergency contact," Westbrook said.

"It was cold and my stuff was falling down, and I had to put my gloves in my book bag. I put my hands in my pocket," said Kevin Jennings, 5-year-old forced to walk home.

Kevin's mom says she wants to get to the bottom of what went wrong. Westbrook says she plans to get to the bottom of this during a meeting with the vice principal of the school Thursday.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: lazy; twerp
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To: Strategerist
kidnapping by strangers is still incredibly rare. The vast majority of Amber Alerts and missing children are taken by one of the parents in a divorce.

YEESSSSS!!!

THANNKKKK YOUUUU!!!!

All this "sniff...poor little Kevin might have been kidnapped stuff" is B.S.

The simple fact of the matter is that most kids are kidnapped and/or molested by a friend or family member, not some perv on the street.

Furthermore, as the story notes, kids within a "mile and a half" of the school aren't bussed anyway. Won't the legions of perverts that snatch kids from the street every day just snatch them in that first mile and a half?

Or, are the allegedly small government conservatives of "Free Republic" going to start demanding that THOSE kids get "bussed" too?

21 posted on 01/20/2005 5:07:56 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Do you, or have you ever had children?
Ever live in Syracuse?
Now, dont get me wrong, I think this Mom should take more responsibility for the welfare of her five year old child, but I dont think schools should require a five year old to walk unsupervised to and from school either.


22 posted on 01/20/2005 5:09:03 AM PST by Stand_Up
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To: Publius6961

One little mistake usually is what leads to a big $%*$ up. And I'm sorry but when it comes to my kids, there should be no little mistakes that put them in serious danger.


23 posted on 01/20/2005 5:09:18 AM PST by kx9088
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Why would anyone put a 5 year-old on a bus?


24 posted on 01/20/2005 5:09:21 AM PST by AppyPappy (If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Be Made In Prolonging The Problem.)
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To: Strategerist
If I had a five year old, and if a school official changed the set patern of transportation without my knowledge, that person would be in the unemployment line as fast as I could make it happen.

And there were no school shootings that I remember before the late seventies. With the exception of one well publicized case in Bath Michigan.

I do not ever remember hearing of ANY kidnapings, rapes and murders of children by predators before that time as well. That's not to say it didn't happen.

I do believe that times have changed, it is not the same world I grew up in, it is a far more dangerous place.

25 posted on 01/20/2005 5:10:35 AM PST by exnavy
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

When I went to school they didn't have school busses, everyone walked. The only day I got a ride to school was the first day when my mother took me and told me to pay attention how we got there so I knew how to get home and it was at least 2 miles.


26 posted on 01/20/2005 5:11:21 AM PST by dalereed
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To: Publius6961

< It was a mistake.
He's fine.
The school knows about it. It will be fixed.
Why literally make a federal case out of it? >

It's fine THIS time. Making a "federal case" out of it now may save the next child's life.


27 posted on 01/20/2005 5:12:27 AM PST by GOP_Proud (Those who proclaim tolerance have the least for my views.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
Gee does incompetence come to mind? ....
28 posted on 01/20/2005 5:12:45 AM PST by .45MAN ("He" is with us.)
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To: SouthernFreebird; Behind Liberal Lines

"No 5 yr old should be out alone ever!"

Agreed! And forty years ago, when I was 5, I wasn't allowed out alone either. We did live in a big city, but bad things happen to people in all sorts of places.

When my daughter was in first grade I would walk her to school and wait until it opened. Every day there was this beautiful little girl, also in first grade (maybe it was even kindergarten) waiting alone by the gate. She must have been the first to arrive each day. This was in Jersey City, NJ. I thought her parents must have been out of their minds to leave her alone like that, every day.

It only takes about 30 seconds for tragedy to happen. Believe me. My cousin was snatched off the street, never to be seen or heard from again. And she was a grown woman, and a fine,upstanding person, not into any bad activities. So it can happen.


29 posted on 01/20/2005 5:12:53 AM PST by jocon307 (Ann Coulter was right)
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To: Guillermo

"Where is she? Couldn't she walk with him, or arrange for a relative to pick him up?"

She said they didn't tell her he was going to have to walk. This one isn't her fault.


30 posted on 01/20/2005 5:13:08 AM PST by melbell (There are 10 types of people in the world...those who understand binary, and those who don't.)
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To: Stand_Up
Do you, or have you ever had children? Ever live in Syracuse?

Yes and no. But if Syracuse is that darn scary, then the woman should move.

Since this is obviously a mistake or miscommunication, not a deliberate act of the school's, I think the mother's sobbing and calling in the TV camera crews like this is the war in Iraq will do a lot more to damage her little pudge pot's self esteem than one walk on a cold day.

31 posted on 01/20/2005 5:13:33 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
All this "sniff...poor little Kevin might have been kidnapped stuff" is B.S....The simple fact of the matter is that most kids are kidnapped and/or molested by a friend or family member, not some perv on the street.

Why take the chance? I wouldn't.

32 posted on 01/20/2005 5:14:27 AM PST by Petes Sandy Girl (~*~ W 2 ... The Legacy! ~*~)
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To: Strategerist

The raw numbers may be lower, but if anyone ever tried to compile a ratio of kidnapping/assault/harassment per unsupervised outing, I'd bet that the ratio would be much, much, much higher than in years past.


33 posted on 01/20/2005 5:14:43 AM PST by Nataku X (You've heard, "Be more like Jesus." But have you ever heard, "Be more like Mohammad"?)
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To: AppyPappy; Behind Liberal Lines

the point to this story isn't whether he was bussed or that he walked. the point is that through some snafu at the school the NORMAL ROUTINE for this child was altered unbeknownst to the kid or the parents. THAT is the alarming thing. i do not want my kid being told to do something different from his norm without me knowing about it, no matter what the norm is. THAT is the point here. you have a bunch of screwoffs running the place, the person who supposedly told this kid to walk doesn't recall the conversation? not the way i want my kids school run.


34 posted on 01/20/2005 5:15:59 AM PST by xsmommy
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
I am the mother of a 5-year old Kindergartener who is not obese, who gets regular exercise playing, walking, running, riding her bike, etc. If we lived several blocks to school, I would WALK WITH HER.

The KEY issue here is that the parent was not informed about the child riding the bus. The parent has TWO children at the school and both were riding the bus. Her Kindergartener was sent home on foot because the school had incorrect address info. NO parent should learn after the fact that their child must walk to and from school. Sheesh!

I'd be a complete wreck, too. Busy street, perverts, and a public school system that can be so ignorant of the children in their charge -- now, I'm a cranky old Mom!

BTW, our daughter is in a private school miles and miles from here. We drive her there. Get over it.

35 posted on 01/20/2005 5:16:34 AM PST by pettifogger
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

I know what you're talking about.

However, before I walked several blocks to school when I was 5, my mom and I had a practice walk to school.

It sounds like this kid had to do it cold.


36 posted on 01/20/2005 5:18:12 AM PST by kidd
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

This story is about a 5 year old, not a 5th grader.


37 posted on 01/20/2005 5:18:17 AM PST by muawiyah (Egypt didn't invent civilization time)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

you sound like someone who is either not a parent, or had small children so long ago that you can't remember. 5 year old kindergardeners are very young and sheltered in this day and age. to expect this kid to adapt to some inexplicable change that his parent wasn't even aware of, is ridiculous. i don't know how the mother is carrying on, etc. but if it was my kid, my husband and i would be in there raising hell about the snafu that is for dang sure.


38 posted on 01/20/2005 5:18:21 AM PST by xsmommy
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

With the nutcases and pedophiles out in masses today and wreckless drivers I wouldn't allow any five year old to walk blocks unchaperoned either. When I was five yrs old us kids walked to school but we were always chaperoned by older next door neighbor kids and we had crossing street guards. This kid was alone.


39 posted on 01/20/2005 5:18:36 AM PST by SunnySide (Ephes2:8 ByGraceYou'veBeenSavedThruFaithAGiftOfGodSoNoOneCanBoast)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
The hysteria on this thread is enligtning.

Kids throughout the country have been walking to school if they live within a mile for years with few problems

The mother doesn't know how the school got the wrong address? Perhaps she had a part in it.

Schools provide crossing guards at major intersections. I would really like to take a look at how major the intersection really is.

40 posted on 01/20/2005 5:18:46 AM PST by CharacterCounts
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