Child left behind at Westport day care

WESTPORT, Mass. (WHDH) -- A Westport couple is furious after discovering their child had been left alone at a day care. Apparently the workers thought someone had already picked the child up.

The father went to pick up his daughter at preschool Monday evening, only to find the school had been closed up with his child locked inside.

The parents say their daughter, 3-year-old Samantha Paquette, was left behind at Westport Country Day Preschool.

“They heard her crying and then they actually heard her screaming,” said Paula Paquette, Samantha’s mother.

Paula Paquette says that when her husband went to pick up Samantha a little after 5 p.m., he found the preschool closed up. He then called preschool staffers who said Samantha had already been picked up by her grandmother, but she had not.

“Now I’m panicking that someone had my daughter. Didn’t know what was going on, and then I had thoughts that maybe she walked out the front door, she was wandering around in the woods -- no idea,” Paul Paquette said.

Paula Paquette says her husband and a teacher who came back to the school started looking in the windows until they heard Samantha crying. She says her husband broke down the door and found Samantha in the bathroom.

“She kept screaming, ‘Daddy, daddy,’ he grabbed one of the bikes that was on the playground that they have there and hit it up against the door,” Paula Paquette said.

The director of the preschool, who refused to give her name, would only say that the incident is under investigation and that someone will be disciplined.

“The person that walked out that door and locked up that school without checking any rooms I find 100 percent at fault,” said Paula Paquette said.

Paula Paquette says she was further surprised to be told that Samantha had been listed as having been picking up on the school’s log.

“Today, we just got out of the car and she kept crying, ‘I’m going with you guys. Am I going with you?’ She doesn’t want to be alone right now,” Paula Paquette said.

Local police say there have been no reports of past problems at the school.

Westport Police and the State Department of Children and Families are investigating the incident.