Special needs student walks away more than 1 mile from campus

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A special needs child walks away from school and his mother is now demanding answers. The 7-year-old BOY was supposed to stay at Meadows Elementary School once students were dismissed because he’s in the after school program, but his mother says he was left unsupervised and walked right out of the building. 

"The school had no idea,” says Rachel O'Reilly. She adds that she just happened to arrive home early, then heard banging at her front door. 

“I was a little taken aback by that and opened the door and there’s my son in a ball at the front door crying and shaking," explains O'Reilly. "He was sitting on the ground crying and shaking with his coat over his head.” She also says she rushed to Meadows Elementary to find out how her son could have been left unsupervised long enough to leave the building.

“The principal of the school accepts responsibility for what happened," says O'Reilly. "They messed up. They can’t tell me where he was. They can’t tell me how he got off the campus."  

Clayton is a student with special needs. 

"Clayton is high-functioning autistic," says O'Reilly. "He’s in normal classrooms."

O’Reilly has since learned that a resident called 911 after seeing a boy roaming alone and crying uncontrollably and the crossing guard saw a child walking, crying and upset and reported it to the school.

"It’s horribly upsetting," says O'Reilly. "I don’t feel my son is safe in an environment that I’m supposed to trust him to go five days a week. My 7-year-old special needs son walked a mile home by himself." 

Fort Bend Independent School District released the following statement: