A pair of Georgia parents are outraged after they say their 6-year-old daughter walked around her school for several hours wearing only a T-shirt and underwear.
Avishaye Daniels says she sent her 6-year-old daughter Aylah to school fully clothed last Friday, but when she returned home, she wasn’t wearing her shorts, WALB reports.
“I was mad, but I was more shocked than anything,” she said.
After notifying the school, Aylah’s parents said they learned their daughter was walking around school dressed in only a T-shirt and underwear from noon until she left around 3 p.m.
“How can you look over my 6-year-old daughter in just a T-shirt and panties, socks and shoes for three hours?” said Daman Bell, Aylah’s dad.
Baker County Schools Principal Jeff Henderson explained that the school held a chalk party, during which students’ clothes got dirty. Aylah’s parents were called to bring her a clean shirt to change into.
Henderson asserted the whole situation was an accident.
“We’ve never had this happen before,” he said.
Aylah said she forgot to put her shorts back on when she was told to change. Henderson said Aylah’s teacher didn’t realize she wasn’t wearing any bottoms.
“Her shirt was long. It went almost to her knee, and she was not fully exposed or anything like that throughout the day,” Henderson said.
School police and the Baker County Sheriff’s Office have reviewed school cameras to make sure nothing happened to Aylah while she didn’t have on pants.
Henderson says student safety was never compromised.
“We care about their concerns and the safety of our students. We learned from this. It’s a big learning experience for everyone that this took place. It was never intentional – no way, shape, form, this would ever happen,” he said.
While Aylah’s parents wait to hear from deputies to review all school footage, they say they won’t stop speaking out about their concerns. While both the principal and superintendent have apologized, they feel more should be done.
Henderson told WALB he’s not taking this situation lightly and ensures that it won’t happen again.