Sick child mix-up leaves parents stunned

ALOHA, Ore. - It was a horrifying discovery for a parent to make. Their child was sent home sick, but with a complete stranger.

It happened last Thursday at Reedville Elementary School near Beaverton. Somehow the young girl was misidentified, and the wrong emergency contact was called in to pick her up.

The school's statement issued after the incident, only six lines long, doesn't give much information. However, it is all the district has said about the situation. It simply says that this was a case of mistaken identity.

That's what parents at Reedville Elementary School can't seem to understand.

"The teachers know me pretty well here," said one parent at the school, Vicky Taylor. "They know who my kids are."

But that wasn't the case for the 6 year old in question at Reedville. She was sent home with a complete stranger.

"That's scary, absolutely scary," said Darla Ross, at Reedville to pick up her own kids. "How does [the mother] trust the authorities? How does she trust her teacher or anybody else that did that?"

"I take care of a couple young girls who I'm here to pick up," said Darla Ross in the Reedville lot. "I cannot imagine how that adult that came to pick her up did not realize it was the wrong child ... let alone the teacher dismissing them."

"I'd be scared," said another Reedville parent, Angela Humbert. "Get that parent back and get my kid back."

And just how the mistake was made is what's more concerning.

"You've got the school here," said parent Brian Froelich. "You'd think they'd put the kid where the kid belongs."

"That would make me very nervous," said parent Betsy Chalut. "I would have a hard time trusting the school district."

The district said the girl was misidentified by school staff. Yet what is more confusing is how the adult who took the child home failed to realize it wasn't his kid.

"Why wouldn't they know that it wasn't their own child they were supposed to pick up?" Chalut said. "That makes me a little bit leery with the school district altogether."

The child has been returned to her home safely.

Nonetheless, parents here want the district to have stricter rules on who students are released to.

"The staff need to be a little more cautious on who they send the kids home with," Chalut said. "Maybe they need to start doing I.D.ing."

"I make sure I have my I.D. on me,"  Taylor said. "I've been at schools where they will actually I.D. you."

The district did not answer any questions about the statement it released, so it is unclear if officials there are considering a requirement that would force parents to show I.D. when picking up their child.

However, the district said all of the district release policies were followed in this case. The district also said the security and safety of its students is their highest priority.

Even Taylor had words about the incident: "I'm a very forgiving person but I would be highly upset."