A 6-year-old was left outside his Queens elementary school after recess due to unaware staff, The Post has discovered.
On October 11, first-grader Yosef Alwakzeh was left outside the PS 35 building in Hollis after staff failed to notice him while bringing in students from the schoolyard, according to his frustrated father, Nagi Alwakzeh, who spoke to The Post.
Later on, a school security agent shared with Alwakzeh that a parent discovered Yosef wandering the streets by himself and returned him to the school on 191st Street, according to the father of seven.
“’They locked the door and I knocked on the door, I cried. Nobody opened the door,’” the boy told his father.
The duration Yosef spent outside and the distance he wandered on that 68-degree day remain uncertain, but Alwakzeh mentioned that his child remembered spotting a ladder at one moment. He thinks his son might have walked just under 200 feet down 191st Street to the bustling intersection of Jamaica Avenue, where construction workers have been active lately, he mentioned.
An official representing the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools stated that the independent watchdog is currently examining the allegation.
Alwakzeh reported that he was not informed by the school regarding his son’s disappearance until he arrived for dismissal that day, and this was only after a teacher inquired about the incident.
“When something happens like this to any child, you should call the parents immediately,” he said. “And then you should call the ambulance to make sure the kid’s OK.”
PS 35 expressed regret to Alwakzeh regarding the incident, though some sources question if the child actually made it onto the street, highlighting the presence of construction equipment around the building, including in the schoolyard.