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Milwaukee mother frustrated MPS hasn't told her how her autistic child wandered from school

Posted at 4:52 PM, Nov 09, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-09 19:08:54-05

It's been more than 24 hours and a Milwaukee mother is still in the dark about how her 5-year-old autistic son was allowed to wander away from school without anyone knowing.  

Blake Greenley asked his mom to return to Bruce Elementary Friday even though she would have rather had him stay home.  Crystal Borzick is frustrated school leaders haven't given her any answers.

"Obviously somebody's got some explaining to do," said Borzick.

Friday Milwaukee Public Schools said, "We are in the process of conducting an investigation and cannot make any premature statements regarding the details we are uncovering that could potentially impact the outcome or necessary steps that we will take. We are laser-focused on taking the steps necessary to make sure this does not happen again."

"No parent should be scared out of their mind to know that their autistic child was running through streets," said Borzick.

Thursday's timeline:

7:15 a.m.: Blake went to school.

11 a.m.: Drivers saw him crossing Mill Road a couple blocks away.

12:45 p.m.: Blake's mom learned her son was missing from a picture of him on Facebook.  At this point, the school apparently didn't know the child was missing.

"They said that they think, and this is the keyword, think that he might have left after lunch, but they don't know they have to check cameras," said Borzick.

A driver, Karen Stacy, said she followed the boy into a neighborhood and around a park.

"I was scared for him," said Stacy. "I mean he looked terrified and he was all alone."

Police told her the boy wasn't reported missing, so that's when Stacy posted Blake's picture.

"She's a Godsend because she saved my baby," said Borzick.

Borzick said school leaders didn't know her son was gone until police brought him back.  She was told Blake had a substitute teacher Thursday, but it's not clear if this is related. 

"How do you not know a student's missing from your school," said Borzick.