MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The parents of an autistic, non-verbal 4-year-old boy say they're wanting more communication and answers after they say their son was released from his elementary school without an approved guardian and walked away from campus.
The incident happened last week to K4 student Kevin Diaz at St. Augustine Preparatory Academy's South Campus on Milwaukee's south side.
His parents, José and Ariana Diaz, said the situation could have had a much different outcome.
"You just let my son out into the world that he's never experienced without any adult, so it's kind of freaky and scary," José Diaz said.
Kevin's older brother, Andres Diaz, is a senior at Aug Prep. He said the school typically has a check-out process for younger students that requires the person picking up a child to identify themselves.
"We have to give our name, like, are you the son, parent?" Andres Diaz said. "They check it, and they see it's me."
Andres Diaz said that process wasn't followed when he arrived to pick up Kevin Diaz last week.
"I'm like, 'Have you seen Kevin?' And she's like, 'Oh, we let him out a couple minutes [ago] with who we're thinking [was] a parent,'" Andres Diaz recalled.
He said school staff checked again and told him Kevin Diaz had already been released.
Ariana Diaz said she became frightened when Andres called her.
"He said, 'Ma, they said they already let him go,' and I said, 'With who?'" she said. "I was shaking. I got scared."
Kevin Diaz didn't get far. According to his family, a group of older students found him and brought him back to the school.
A spokesperson for Aug Prep said in a statement that Kevin Diaz "was not properly escorted to their family guardian and walked away from campus in the company of other Aug Prep students."
The school said Kevin Diaz was returned within minutes and reunited with the correct guardian.
School officials also said they notified the Diaz family within an hour of the incident and have had several conversations with them since.
Adriana and José Diaz said they met with school leaders, but left wanting greater accountability and better communication.
"They're basically going back to what they were doing," José Diaz said. "The routine just got beefed up a little more and a teacher didn't get reprimanded."
School leaders said they've re-emphasized to staff the importance of following dismissal protocols.
Here's St. Augustine Prep's Full Statement:
"Recently during school dismissal, one of our students was not properly escorted to their family guardian and walked away from campus in the company of other Aug Prep students. The student was returned to school within minutes and was safely reunited with his correct family guardian. We take the safety of all our students very seriously. In accordance with our policy, we immediately contacted the student's family and spoke with them within one hour after this incident. School leadership also met with the student’s family the very next day and again today. We understand their concerns and have apologized for this lapse in our procedures. We have recommunicated to our entire elementary staff the importance of adhering to all elements of our student dismissal policy."
José Diaz said he wants to make sure another family doesn't experience the same fear.
"This is a very scary situation," he said. "I don't want that to happen to anybody else's child."
This story was reported on-air by Jenna Rae and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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