Glens Falls kindergartener escapes school, found in nearby pond

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A kindergartener at Kensington Elementary School wandered off during school hours on Monday and was found uninjured inside a nearby pond. The school is now increasing safety measures to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Dr. Krislynn Dengler, the superintendent of Glens Falls City School District said when monitors realized the child was missing, the school responded immediately.

“It was noted that he was missing so 911 was called. And as I arrived there I became aware that a passerby had gotten him," said Dr. Dengler. “The passerby was holding him until EMS, police, fire arrived also and then mom was called, of course."

The 5-year-old student wandered off during recess to Crandall Pond, where a community member found him waist-deep in the water. According to Google Maps, the boy traveled about 700 feet from the back of the school's playground to the pond.

At least four monitors were watching the 12-person kindergarten class during recess when the boy got away. It's a situation that Dr. Dengler said has never gone this far.

“Not to this extent, it is not a typical incident of course, we do have occasional students that have a flag on their file that says they're an elopement risk, we did not have that on this child but we do now," said Dr. Dengler.

Staff are also still trying to figure out how the 5-year-old got so far away from school.

“We walked it yesterday afternoon to try to anticipate how he might've gotten there," said Dr. Dengler. "But it is conjecture on our part of how he got there and if he was walking, running, you know, what got his attention, not sure. But we are taking measures to impede a child's ability to even get to those trails."

Those measures include new fencing around the playground, new radios for recess supervisors and updated safety protocols. The school plans to re-station the supervisors so that they're covering more area of the playground and can have eyes on the children at all times.

“It was a really good adult-to-student ratio but just better positioning of them and expectations of how we're monitoring. We created safety plans for each of the children and shared that with the adults. so it's taking attendance every so many minutes," said Dr. Dengler.

There is already fencing around much of the school, but to add more Dr. Dengler said they're reaching out to different fencing companies to compare quotes. She doesn't know when they can expect the fencing to be installed or completed.

In the meantime, Dr. Dengler said crews are supposed to install snow fences Tuesday to block off the pathway to Crandall Park.