1st-grader vanishes from school, walks home on his own

HOUSTON – A first-grader vanished from school in the middle of the day. While that 6-year-old is fortunately safe now, there are big questions about how he managed to leave the school building.

Chambers Elementary kindergartner Dreon Rogers said he told his teacher that he needed to leave class because he was itching and when she told him no, he said.

"I just snuck out of there and then I ran to the door," Dreon said.

That's when he said he walked right out the front door, through a field, jumped across a bayou and walked home, falling and scraping his leg along the way. His grandma heard a dog barking and looked outside.

"I'm like 'Dreon, how did you get here? Where did you come from?'" said Sheila Hearn.

He said he just took off after less than three hours at school and no one noticed.

"Someone should have seen this child leaving at school. That school is too big for no one to notice him coming out the front door. He left out the front door. Not the back. Not the side.  The front door. Someone should have seen him," Hearn said.

An Alief ISD spokesman says there are no excuses. He said the principal apologized to the grandmother, and he says he is glad Dreon is OK and has reinforced security measures to make sure teachers are constantly watching students.

"I want the teacher to be suspended because to me, if a kid can get out of your classroom, that means you're not paying attention to your students," said Hearn.

Alief ISD says it also has security improvements scheduled to begin next month that will eventually cover all of its schools.