The excitement surrounding
Natalie’s first day of preschool last week has quickly changed to shock and
heartbreak as we learned that one of her classmates drowned after falling into the
school pool on Monday.
When I
went to pick Natalie up at 1pm on Monday, I noticed that there were more cars
than usual (some of the children stay the whole day until 5pm) and there seemed
to be anxiety on the faces of the teachers and staff. I overheard some mothers saying that they had
been told that school was ending early, and then I noticed two ambulances in
the parking lot. When I asked what was
going on, I couldn’t get any answers. I
called the school later and I was told that there was an accident and I would
be told more at an appropriate time.
For some reason, they had not called either
myself or Muigai to tell us school was ending early. Truthfully, I am very glad they forgot to
call us because they were telling parents, “Was your child at school
today? Please come pick them up as soon
as possible, there has been an incident and school is closing early.” I think I would have been completely panicked
if I had received a call like that. I am
grateful that by the time I realized something had happened, I had Natalie safe
and healthy at my side.
The
story is receiving a lot of media attention, and there has been a story in the paper
every day for the past 4 days about the school and the young girl Sunshine. We learned what had happened through the
newspapers since the school was still not communicating any details to the
parents.
We
had a parents meeting at the school yesterday where we learned that four of the
teachers had been arrested for negligence and the school could legally not talk
about the details of what happened until the teachers were released, which was
supposed to happen last evening. They
claimed that the fence around the pool had been completed (the pool had just
been built), all of the gates were locked, and there were 9 children playing in
the sandbox right next to the pool being supervised by two teachers when it
happened. They claimed that the details
given in the newspaper were not accurate, but they could not provide us clear
information on exactly how Sunshine ended up in the pool. (the newspapers
claimed that she wandered away from class and was in the pool for 30 minutes
before being found, which the administration says is not medically possible
since they were performing CPR for one hour and were able to get a pulse back
at one point).
Of
course, all the parents were frustrated and do not feel comfortable sending our
children back until we know exactly what happened. The administration said they would
communicate more once the teachers are released and they are able to speak with
the teachers. The school has been closed
all week and they are hoping to reopen on Monday. They have already installed numerous additional
safety measures for the pool and the school in general to try to ensure that
something like this will not happen again.
Please
pray for Sunshine’s family and the school community in dealing with this tragic
accident. Please also pray for wisdom
for us as we try to determine if we should keep Natalie at the school or find
another school for her to go to. We have
been very shaken up by this – as any parent knows, there is always anxiety with
taking your child to school for the first time and entrusting others with the
safety and well being of your child, so the timing of this just one week after
Natalie started school is making me nervous to send her anywhere!
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