“It was the worst day of my life.”; Mom suing FCPS after child gets out of school
LEXINGTON, Ky (ABC36 NEWS NOW) —
Leslie Weston says it was all of her worst fears come to life when she received the phone call.
“I was just at work like a normal day and then just received a phone call that he had gotten out,” said Weston.
She adds her mind went straight to the worst. “I’ve always, you know, thought like, what if that happens or you see other news stories and you’re like, I hope that never happens to my son and then it did. And so it was just all of my worst fears coming to life. It was the worst day of my life.”
Now Weston is suing FCPS. An attorney filed the lawsuit in Fayette County Circuit Court alleging negligence.
According to the complaint the seven-year-old was gone from Meadowthorpe Elementary School, after getting out through a classroom window, for nearly 40 minutes until the staff reported them missing. The complaint says Lexington Animal Care and Control officers found the child and took him to UK hospital to be checked out.
“The animal control officers are true heroes. They were out on a different call. They weren’t going to help my son. They just saw him and stopped.”
Weston says she is forever grateful to the officers who helped her son and she looks forward to meeting them in person. “I want them to be able to see my son again and just let them know how grateful we are. And forever will be for them and their quick thinking.” She adds she went straight to the hospital after she was called was so relieved to be able to see and hug her son.
Weston says her son is the most loving and fun little boy. She adds their family would not be their family without him.
“He’s just amazing. He’s brilliant. Like watching his mind work is one of my favorite things.”
When it came to sending her son back to school Weston says she was terrified, but knew she had to do what was best for him. “That was one of the hardest things because you think, like, oh I’m just never going to send him back. But for him, that’s the consistency is what he needs. So I had to put my feelings aside in that and do what was best for him. And that was to get him back to school and in his routine.”
For parents who have children on the autism spectrum, Weston says individual education programs (IEP) need to be detailed and thorough. “Anything that you need for your child, for you to be able to send them to school and feel safe about that, put it in there.”
When it comes to the outcome of the lawsuit Weston hopes that some changes will come and there will be better safety measures for kids, especially those with special needs.
