Demanding answers: Damia and Jason Dillard's seven-year-old daughter Samaya was found wandering the streets on December 13 after being kicked out of class for spilling water
- Jefferson Elementary School teacher Lupe Rodriguez accused of dragging Samaya Dillard, 7, out of class on her chair on December 18
- The second grade student then walked about two miles away from the Californian school, across a busy highway and to a parking lot
- She was missing for more than an hour before anyone noticed
- Her dad Jason Dillard found her roaming the neighborhood
- Samaya's parents are suing the school, claiming the teacher had bullied the girl over several months
Jason and Damia Dillard say the Jefferson Elementary School teacher dragged their daughter, Samaya, out of the second-grade class on a chair 'in a fit of frightening rage' about 9.30am and ordered her to stay outside on December 18.
But after sitting alone through recess and the beginning of her reading class, Samaya walked out of the California school and across major intersections, a freeway and through a shopping center parking lot before she was found.
She'd been missing for more than one hour before anyone noticed she was gone.
'You were imagining all the different things that could happen,' Jason Dillard told The Sacramento Bee.
'We can't allow that to happen again. Not just with my child, with anybody's child.'
Samaya's mother said her daughter is still not coping with her ordeal. She is seeing a counselor twice a week and has been moved to another school in the district.
'What she said was that she didn't want to live. She said she felt like nobody loved her, nobody cared,' Damia Dillard told Fox 40.
The Dillards have a filed claim with the Natomas Unified School District for unspecified damages alleging severe emotional trauma and distress to Samaya, her two older twin sisters and themselves.
The couple have accused teacher Lupe Rodriguez of bullying Samaya over several months before the December 18 incident.
They said they previously met with Rodriguez and suggested ways to engage their daughter after she had moved from St. Hope Public School 7 - a Sacramento charter school - to Jefferson Elementary.
Jefferson Elementary School: Samaya was allegedly dragged out of class at her Pebblewood Dr, Sacramento school about 9.30am before she wandered the streets for more more than two hours
Dangerous crossing: Samaya's parents say the little girl walked along Truxel Road over Interstate 80 (pictured) to get away from her school
Final destination: Samaya ended up at On The Border Mexican Grill and Cantina, about two miles from her school, where a manager offered her a glass of water and called the police who didn't respond
But when Samaya accidentally knocked over a glass of water, Rodriguez punished her by kicking her out of class.
Feeling abandoned, the little girl wandered off campus, walked down Truxel Road and over the Interstate 5 entrance and exit ramps - all the way to an On The Border restaurant about two miles away where she asked for water.
The restaurant manager said he called police who didn't respond to the welfare check, before Samaya walked off.
It was a chilly 46 degrees and Samaya was only wearing a light sweat shirt and jeans.
'When I got the call from the school it was 11.30 (in the morning). So, when I get to school and I say when was the last time you saw my child and they say 9.30, I'm thinking, 'this girl may not ever come back',' Jason Dillard said.
Journey: Samaya's parents say she walked off the Jefferson Elementary School Campus on Pebblewood Dr, Sacramento before wandering down Truxel Road and over the Interstate 5 entrance and exit ramps to Walmart and an On The Border restaurant
The Dillards told Fox 40 the school had warned them about Rodriguez early on.
'We're working on this teacher with the teachers union, but there's only so much we can do,' said Damia Dillard, repeating what school administrators allegedly told her.
'Please document everything because we're trying to build a case.'
Jason Dillard has also filed a police report alleging that Samaya's teacher committed battery by dragging Samaya - seated in her chair - outside into the cold and leaving her there.
School district leaders have declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but issued a statement to Fox 40:
'We cannot comment on the claim's allegations or the parties involved because it is a pending legal matter, and because it involves a minor and a personnel issue. We can only say that we care deeply about all children in Natomas unified and we are firmly committed to the safety of our students.'
Couldn't they have installed a camera in Rodriguez' class-room or do random checks or supervise the teacher, while sitting in the back of the class-room, without notice?
"[T]here is only so much we can do". That is BS, these administrators don't give a hoot about these kids or may even encourage teachers to behave in a sadistic manner, which is a fine example of ponerisation.
Parents, you have to start teaching your own kids.