The student, named Elijah, left Rufino Mendoza Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday, Aug. 31

NEED TO KNOW

• A Texas kindergarten student named Elijah left Rufino Mendoza Elementary School unnoticed and was found crying several blocks away by a good Samaritan
• The child’s mother said the school gave conflicting accounts of how the situation was handled
• The school district stated that student safety remains a top priority after the incident

A kindergarten student in Texas left his school in the middle of the day and was later found by a good Samaritan.

The student, named Elijah, left Rufino Mendoza Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas during school hours on Monday, Aug. 31, local affiliate NBC 5 reported. He made it several blocks from the school before Isabel Barrera, who was in the neighborhood visiting her parents, found the boy crying. After seeing the school’s name on Elijah’s shirt, she knew to return him to campus.

“I see a little boy in the street he’s running, crying and I think my mom instincts just kicked in,” Barrera told the outlet. “He hugged me and I hugged him back and I was like, ‘Are you OK?’ and at that point all I could think about was he’s someone’s baby.”

Barrera told the outlet that school personnel told her that no one noticed him slip out of the building mid-day, and assured her that his family would be notified of the incident.

Upon arrival at school pickup, Elijah’s mother Rebeakah Alcaraz told NBC 5 that she was given a very different explanation from the school, which claimed that the school’s security guard and two employees caught the boy before he could leave the premises.

“They traumatized my little boy,” Alcaraz said, per the outlet. “They traumatized me as a parent and I fear for his safety now at that school.”

Alcaraz said she did not learn that Elijah had walked several blocks from school until she came across Barrera’s husband Andrew posting about it in a neighborhood Facebook group, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

In the post, Barrera encouraged the school to “do better” regarding student safety.

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In a statement to local outlet WFAA, the school said that safety remains a “top priority.”

“The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority,” Fort Worth ISD said, per the outlet. “Fort Worth ISD is aware of an incident involving a kindergarten student who left campus during lunch on Monday. The student was safely located by a community member and promptly returned to school.”

PEOPLE has reached out to a spokesperson for Rufino Mendoza Elementary School.

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