During the first week of school, most people would expect teachers to be extra vigilant, but some parents in Corcoran say they experienced the opposite.
Bret Harte Elementary School allowed a 3-year-old child to be picked up by a stranger on Friday.
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"The school district is totally at fault, totally at fault for this," said 3-year-old Natalia's Father, Juan Alcantar. "Three days into the school year... something like this shouldn't happen."
Alcantar said their daughter Natalia was missing when his wife arrived for pick up.
"School just started. This is when security should be at it's highest," he said. "Who's picking up who from school, and it just failed."
Their daughter's teachers aide told Alcantar the 3-year-old toddler was "picked up by her grandpa."
"Wait a minute, she doesn't have a grandpa, so where's our daughter?" said Alcantar.
Their daughter was taken by a man picking up his granddaughter.
When he brought her back, he told the school he got the two girls mixed up.
"I think it's just unacceptable that the school either wasn't aware or responsible to see who they were releasing the kids to," said Alcantar.
He said he was lucky his daughter was okay.
"Leaving with an older man, her being a little girl, I mean, that was my first thought," said Alcantar. "What's happening to my daughter? What's happening to my daughter? Second, am I going to see her again?"
He filed a complaint with the superintendent of the Corcoran School District and had a face-to-face meeting on Monday.
"We're sorry, but it doesn't fix it; the scare we went through? It doesn't fix it," said Alcantar. "A lot of circumstances these days, kids don't come back or worse, so it was scary."
Alcantar said this is Natalia's first year attending school, they're not going to bring their daughter back to class until the school district makes changes to its policy.
FOX26 reached out to the Corcoran School District for comment about the issue.
Superintendent Eduardo Ochoa sent us this statement:
“Student safety is very important to CJUSD. The District is aware of this situation and has reviewed and updated its safety protocols to ensure all students remain safe and under the proper care and supervision of school staff including during the transfer of care to a parent/guardian.”
