Special-needs student at Cypress Lakes HS found wandering on busy road after school

KATY, Texas – A Houston-area mother is looking for answers after her special needs daughter was found wandering in a busy road Monday after school instead of on the special needs bus. 

"I get a phone call from a friend of mind, and she sees Zayla walking down Greenhouse Road, a couple of blocks from Cypress Lakes High School in Katy," Angela Wesley said.

"Something else could have happened. A different stranger could have seen her, could have picked her up," Wesley said. "There's endless possibilities of what could have happened."

Wesley said she immediately arranged to leave work early and called the school, but said no one answered. A district employee did answer and got in touch with the school, Wesley said. 

A school police officer escorted Zayla Vinson back to campus and the special education director waited with her until Wesley arrived, she said. 

"What kind of safety measures is the school district going to put in place?" Wesley said. "Figure out where the disconnect is so this doesn't happen again."

Special needs students are scanned when they get on and off the bus, and Vinson, in her final year at Cypress Lakes' Special Education program, has never had a problem with the bus, Wesley said.

Wesley has still not heard back from anyone with the district transportation department, which school officials told her would figure out what happened, she said.

"Just confused" at what happened, Wesley said. "Just baffled."

KPRC reached out to the school district Monday afternoon but has not heard back.