5-year-old Fort Worth ISD student left behind on field trip

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth ISD is investigating after a 5-year-old student was left at a museum after a field trip.

When the boy's mom arrived at Carroll Peak Elementary School for pick-up around 3 p.m., teachers and staff could not find him.

Kler Lay, the young boy's uncle, says he received frantic calls from his crying sister-in-law.

"They didn't know where he was. They asked him, he came to school today, and then they don’t know where he was," Lay recalled.

There is a language barrier in this case.

Lay's brother and sister-in-law moved to the U.S. from Thailand about 8 years ago and they are working to become fluent in English.

Around 4:40 p.m., Lay joined his sister-in-law at the school during the frantic search. He says by then it had been determined his nephew attended a field trip earlier with classmates to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

Lay says at that point he followed the principal as they all drove to the museum at 5. His nephew was safe with a security employee.

"They had people holding him," he said. "They don’t know which school was he’s with. He didn't have a name tag or anything like that."

Fort Worth ISD has responded to the incident with a statement.

"This is unacceptable, and as soon as the district was made aware, an immediate investigation was launched. The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. We are taking this matter very seriously and are working to determine how this occurred to prevent any future incidents," the district wrote, in part.

"I just want this not to happen again to other kids, because this is so scary and it can happen anytime, but I know it’s possible to fix this," said Lay.

The museum has also issued a statement. They say what happened is an extremely rare occurrence and as soon as they realized the child was in the museum unattended, they contacted his school and made sure he was safe.