It is awesome indeed that Kayla has been found safe and sound, and there is a happy ending.This is awsome news. She is so lucky given the weather and other hazards out there.
Now, it is important to get to how this happened so that everyone who is accountable is noted AND procedure reviews happen so that it never, ever happens again.
Good to see something positive rather than my fears confirmed.
If the school was closed, and no one was there to meet the student, why couldn't the driver return to the group home? There were people at the group home, by definition, imo.A little more info.
“Police told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 that Kayla was dropped off at school after traveling from a group home in West Mifflin.”
Teen girl who had been missing since Friday morning found safe, Allegheny County police say
Police said she was dropped off at Sto-Rox High School Friday morning.www.wtae.com
Great work by Jamie’s Dream Team and everyone that joined in their search. Mr. Rogers would be very proud.
Volunteer who found missing girl with Down syndrome in Pittsburgh shares details on the search
Community members stepped up to find the missing girl Saturday afternoon and reunite her with her parents. She had been missing for more than 30 hours and was hungry but seemingly okay.www.wpxi.com
“It was probably the most intense change of emotions I’ve ever felt,” said Rebecca Bykoski of Pittsburgh.
Bykoski spotted the teen, who has Down syndrome, around 3:30 Saturday afternoon after an hours-long search in the cold with dozens of other volunteers.
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Bykoski said she ended up finding Durler in plain sight, standing in front of a retail shop, DK Pittsburgh Sports on Fifth Avenue.
“I ran up to her and I said, ‘Kayla, oh my gosh are you okay?’ I said, ‘We’ve been looking for you. There have been so many people looking for you,’” Bykoski said. “I asked her if she was okay. She said, ‘Yes.’ I asked her if she had been scared and she said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Would you like a hug?’ and we had a hug.”
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Jamie Ward, the founder of Jamie’s Dream Team, started a small search party for Durler Friday night. By the next morning, the group of six volunteers had expanded into 100 volunteers handing out flyers across the entire city.
More in article and video
Great work by Jamie’s Dream Team and everyone that joined in their search. Mr. Rogers would be very proud.
My mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world." - Fred Rogers
Yes - the most important thing is that she was found safe and alive, thank GOD, but this situation should not have happened AT ALL in the first place IMO as a special education worker/soon-to-be special education teacher. There are IMO provably so many red flags and outright illegal actions that led to Kayla's disappearance in the first place starting from the transportation services being out of compliance with her IEP JMO.Oh my goodness I hope she’s found safe.
A lot of my role used to involve working with vulnerable children in special schools - I just cannot understand this situation at all.
The transport drivers at the schools I was at would never let a child get off the bus unaccompanied - there’s a clear handover process in place.
Also these transport drivers often pick up other children - surely the other children’s parents would have notified them that the school was closed?
I really hope this girl is safe
I would have joined you! I work in town but we WFH on Fridays. I didn’t see news Friday or Saturday and didn’t know she was missing at all until I saw it on here and she was already found!I'm so happy that she was found! Market Square is full of people that I'm surprised it even took this long! I live close to downtown and was going to head there myself today if she hadn't been and see if you wanted to join me!