I would like to share with you a story of one of the most horrible experiences I have ever gone through as a mother. It all started Friday the 7th.

My name is Lisa Russell, and my two sons Brendan and Joshua Conover attend Bellamy School in Rome NY.

On Friday there was a huge issue. The Y and school made many mistakes which ended up leaving my kids sitting outside my home unsupervised for over 45 mins. My children are only 5 and 6 yrs old.

On Thurs I called the Y and spoke to a director about making sure there was an opening for my kids on the after school child care list. She told me as long as I got my enrollment papers in by 10 am that day they would be on the list starting Friday. I ran right to the Y and gave the paper work to the lady at the front desk at 9:15 am. So all was set (or so I thought) for Friday.

I got out of work at 4:15pm on Friday. As I was driving to pick up my brother from his job (we car pool) I turned on my cell phone and saw I had a missed call at 2:54 pm and it was from my kids school Bellamy. Since school had been over for a few hrs and there was no voice mail left I wasn't to concerned.

I drove about 2 blocks and got this feeling that I needed to call the school and see why they were calling in the first place. So I called and the principal answered. I explained how I received a call on my cell phone with no message and was wondering why someone from school called me.

She wasn't sure why and asked me to ask my kids if they knew if maybe it was the school nurse. I explained that my kids should be in the after school care there that is ran by the local YMCA. She asked me to hold while she checked with them to see if they called.

I was on hold for maybe 5 mins, and that is when all hell broke loose. The principal came back and explained to me that my kids were NOT in the after school care, and were sent away when they showed up because they Y was saying they were not on the list for after school care.

I started to panic big time and started to swear. "So where the heck are my kids. I am at work in Utica, so they are not with me!!!!"

She said they got sent home on the bus. I explained they DO NOT take a bus home and haven't for 2 yrs now, so what bus did the school put my kids on???? She did confirm it was the one to the trailer park where we live. I then told her that no one was home, since I am a single mom that was at work.

Now mind you this whole time I am 30 mins away from home, school got out at 2:50 and it is now 4:30. So for at least an hour and half my child have been god knows where.

The bus for the trailer park, drops the kids who live here, off in front off the park which is off of a main road, and we live about 15 trailer into the park. I wasn't sure if my 5 and 6 yr old would know to walk up the park or just stand there at the end of the park waiting for a parent that wasn't coming.....maybe they were snatched by some weirdo, or molested by one. Or maybe they ran into the road and got hit by a car. My house was locked they wouldn't be able to get in..oh dear god, the thoughts that ran through my head.

I am now crying, screaming, swearing at this woman, She told me she would drive to my house and see if they were there, and call me on her cell phone when she got there.

She lets me go, I am now driving thru the city of Utica frantically, calling my mom and sister, who are my emergency contact people on the school list, to see if the school tried to call them at all today. They both confirm they (my mom and sister ) were home since school let out and they hadn't received any calls, and even checked their caller ids to ensure that they didn't miss a call. And nothing showed on the caller ID.

My mom drove over to my house just in case. Mean while the principal called me back, my boys were at my home. The sat outside for 45 mins before my neighbors 7 yr old told her babysitter that she thought my kids were alone, since my car wasn't there, and my 5 yr old was crying in the yard, so the next door neighbors babysitter had them come sit on the porch with her.

The babysitter agreed to keep the kids till my mom could get there. THANK GOD!!!!!!!

Meanwhile the school is blaming the Y, the Y is blaming the school bus company (suppose-ably the Y noticed the mistake and called the bus company and told them to bring the kids back to the school, but the bus company never did)

I was mad at everyone.

Mad at the Y for messing up and sending my kids away. When I called and Spoke to the head director of the child care dept. to find out why there was a break down in information. She told me I wasn't on the list till Monday, then after insisting no I was on the list for Friday, she changed her story and said the Y realized there a mistake and called the bus company telling them to bring back the kids.

Mad at the school secretary for when my kids went to the office my 5 yr old told the her that the Y wouldn't take them and they are not to ride the bus because their mommy wasn't home that she didn't reach out to the emergency contacts on my list when I couldn't be reached. They never even called my job, I confirmed this with my boss.

They school secretary made one little attempt to contact me on my cell phone, but never left a message, just stuck them on a bus with out confirming if I was even home.

As a parent if I left my 5 and 6 yr old home alone I would have charges filed against me right now. If I had done this as a parent, those two boys would be taken away from me before I could blink an eye, however it seems to OK for them to because they said "SORRY"

Mean while when my mom gets to my house my kids run to her, grab her and told how scared they were, and asked if I was dead. My 5 yr old was crying for hours after this happened and all night hasn't let me out of his sight. He has laid on my lap from 6 pm to he feel asleep at 10 pm and I was able to slide away.

I am so angry that we had to go through this. I now, got to see how those poor mothers who kids are kidnapped feel. It is the worst feeling in the world. I don't ever want to feel this again.

I am very thankful that they are over all OK, besides the emotional effect this has had on them. I am grateful that at least the Principal was able to think fast and got to my home to confirm my boys were OK. I am thankful that a mindful 7 yr old and her teenage babysitter had big hearts and concern to look out for my boys.

But now I have the job of trying to make my kids feel safe again, all because the Y and Bellamy failed at doing the right thing and protecting a 5 and 6 yr old from harm and being keep in a safe place. I am not going to let any one minimize or lessen the issue.

Well, today I did some follow up with the Y, the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent of Rome City School District and the principal.

Let me first start with the good.

I sent an email to the CEO of the local YMCA. Within an hour I received a phone call from him. He told me he spoke to every employee that was involved and was very sorry for all I went through on Friday.

He assure me that this was something very serious in his eyes and he was here to work with me to ensure it never happened again. He discussed with me his plans for making changes to how the Y will file the paper work to prevent names from not reaching the proper list. He will be setting up new procedures to follow when kids show up for the after school care and they may not be showing on the list.

He even is going to have they works retrained and take additional training glasses, so they understand the importance of this situation, and how to handle these emergencies correctly. He even wants me to come speak at the training class and share my story, which he said he is sure will touch people who work in the child care field, and help them understand what the smallest lack of communication can cause. So I was very impressed with him.

I appreciate the fact that he acknowledged the need for improvement and didn't try to down play the severity of the situation.

And even thou the actual blatant negligence and child endangerment was caused by the schools secretary and her lack of proper handlement, he still saw a need to be concerned on making things better on the Y's end.

Now for the bad:

Now this morning I sent the same email to the superintendent. And I also called and spoke to the assistant superintendent. This did not go good at all.

The assistant superintendent was very condescending towards me and had a great lack of empathy that he displayed to me. He seemed annoyed that I was refusing to settle for anything less than the secretary being held 100% responsible for her actions. And at one point told me to seek legal advise.

I went to the school after this phone call and talked with the principal, and stressed to her the importance that the secretary not just receive a slap on the wrist and that the proper procedures for contacting a parent or the emergency contact people be reinforced in the future to prevent this from happening again.

The principal did inform me at this point that the assistant superintendent called her. That she would look into what exactly went wrong on the secretary's end. And she again was sorry I had to go through this. I asked for the school counselor to speak to both boys since all weekend they have been showing signs of still being bothered by this whole thing. The principal made the arrangements for this. However alot of her responses from this point on was very short. I feel that was due to order by the superintendent.

Now I don't hold the principal responsible, because once she was made aware of what was going on, she responded quickly and appropriately.

However I wasn't happy with the assistant superintendent and his attitude towards me and his down play of the situation. So I emailed the superintendent again going over how the assistant superintendent was handling this.

At 4:16 pm the superintendent called me. He started out showing some empathy and said this would be handle. When I asked what steps was being taking to ensure it was handle correctly and what the districts plans where to ensure this never happened again he told me he couldn't discuss this me.

When I asked why he told me it was district policy. I explained that since involves the safety of my children and the endangerment the district employee cause I had a right to know;

He again stated he couldn't discuss this me, due to district policy. I explain to him I was not happy with this resolution, because I felt I was trying to be just handle in hopes I will drop this and go away. I ensured him that I felt this was a huge blatant negligence and child endangerment caused by this secretary.

I also stated that I am not going to let any one minimize or lessen the issue. I demand some thing be done, I am speaking to the to the media, and getting legal advice if I can not be provided with a suitable resolution to this matter. He then told me basically good luck with that.

So after the call ended I picked my kids up and we headed to the police station where I filed charges against the secretary for child endangerment. So that is where we stand as of now......

I feel parents need to be made aware of this situation, because this is something that can happen to them and their children. And their out come could be soo much worse than mine. I got lucky that nothing bad happened. But will the next parent be soo lucky. Rome has over 40 sex offenders living here. And there are 5 with in a mile of my home.

I can not let the school district minimize or lessen this mistake that there employee made. Her actions was nothing less than blatant negligence and child endangerment. And it needs to be handle as such. I hope you can help get the word out, so parents can make sure that this never happens to them and their children.

Thank you for taking the time out to read this I greatly appreciate it.

Lisa Russell

7095 E Dominick ST # 50

Rome NY 13440

cell 315-371-6960