HOUSTON – A Houston mother is demanding accountability after she says her 4-year-old daughter was mistakenly placed into the wrong car during school dismissal at Bastian Elementary School.
The incident happened Thursday afternoon during car rider pickup. The child is a Pre-K student.
“She was placed in somebody’s car and taken to their home,” said Daija Spencer. “I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what happened to my child. I don’t know how long she was gone. I don’t know anything at all,” Spencer said.
According to Houston Independent School District, an employee mistakenly placed the student into the wrong vehicle along with a group of other students.
“As the parent who was driving was leaving the campus, they realized what happened, and drove around the school to return the student,” the district said in a statement. “The student was safely and immediately returned and remained with Bastian staff in the front office while the student’s parent was contacted and arrived to pick up the student.”
Spencer says learning that her child was taken off campus was terrifying.
“So this is irresponsible,” Spencer said. “What if something would have happened to my daughter? What if I would have never got her back? They, I don’t think they understand. All they’re realizing is, we got her back, she’s safe. We don’t know what happened in that time. I don’t know how long she was gone. I don’t know anything. And they won’t give me any information.”
Spencer filed a report with the Houston ISD Police Department and says she still has unanswered questions about what happened while her daughter was away from school.
“So they put my child in the car, even though my child is telling them, ‘This is not my mommy. This is not my daddy. This is not my car,’” Spencer said.
“Strangers take my daughter, with no ID, no fact-checking, no anything,” she added.
Spencer shared cell phone video with KPRC 2 showing the school principal apologizing to her for the incident. While she acknowledges the apology, she says it does not undo the emotional impact on her family.
“But something like that I get it, you can be very sincere but that don’t take away my trauma,” Spencer said. “That don’t take away my child’s trauma, and that don’t help us. Thank you for the apology, but this is something we cannot get back. She’s scared to go to school.”
Houston ISD says several changes have already been made in response.
“The employee has been removed from car rider duty, and additional staff have been assigned to support Pre-K car rider dismissal,” the district said. “School administrators have updated dismissal procedures for the student involved, who will now be dismissed directly from the front office.”
But Spencer says broader changes are needed and that pickup protocols used earlier in the school year should be enforced consistently.
“They have the tags around the kids’ names. It has the name so when they check the name and they check the card, it matches,” she said. “They don’t do that no more. They let that go after the first month, and I feel like that needs to be brought back.”
Spencer says she took her daughter to the doctor Friday morning and that everything checked out fine physically. Still, she says the emotional toll remains.
Houston ISD says it is committed to student safety.
“HISD is committed to ensuring the safety of students before, during and after school,” the district said.
Spencer hopes sharing her story prompts change and encourages parents to talk with their children about safety, including using code words to help prevent situations like this from happening.