A woman in a face veil kidnapped a 5 year old from her school, telling the teacher

[pnwmom]

that she was the mother (who also wears a chador and face veil.) The woman scrawled an illegible signature on the sign-out book and left with the little girl.

The girl didn't resist, because she gets picked up after school by various people from her daycare. She's used to trusting people she might not know. And she's used to trusting women in chadors and face veils.

Should all schools have policies requiring drivers' licenses or other state I.D.'s of people not personally known to the office staff? Should all state I.D's require pictures of actual faces -- and should women picking up children be required to remove their veils?

http://newsone.com/2140416/nailla-robinson-found-philadelphia/

Police said Nailla was taken Monday morning from the Bryant School. Authorities released surveillance video showing a woman wearing a full-length, black Muslim garment, her face covered by a black veil, taking the girl out of the school.


Nailla’s mother had appeared on local media Monday night, tearfully pleading for her safe return, and explaining how she also wears the traditional chador and niqab.

School district spokesman Fernando Gallard said the woman identified herself as the girl’s mother and police said her signature on the school visitors log was illegible. All visitors are supposed to go to the school office after signing in, but Gallard said the woman went straight to the classroom and that the teacher released the girl.

“She said she was there to pick up her daughter,” Gallard said. “She took the child and walked out of the school.”

[JI7]

1. you can see the face in a chador can't you ?

[riderinthestorm]

2. Uhm, what part of "face veil" didn't you read in the OP? nt

[JI7]

5. i saw a picture of the mother so i based it on that

[pnwmom]

21. The mother's picture didn't show a face veil but she says she sometimes wears one. n/t

[LisaL]

14. The only thing visible on the abductor were her eyes.

[knitter4democracy]

3. From a teaching board I'm also on:

The teacher has been suspended and is looking at being fired.

I know that, if an adult comes to my door and says s/he's there to pick up a student, I often assume that the office has vetted that person, especially if s/he has on a visitor's pass. So, if the office doesn't check and I don't have access to the files on which kid goes where and with whom, how would I know that the kid can't go with that person if the kid doesn't react?

[pnwmom]

28. I think that the teacher wasn't supposed to let any child go. A parent turning up at

the door should have been turned away.

[liberalhistorian]

31. You do something basic called checking

with the office first, to make sure, instead of just assuming, perhaps? I grew up with teachers, who would never release a student from their room until they'd checked with the office first. Period. And every other teacher I know did and does the same thing. This teacher bears a lot of blame here and should definitely be fired.

[knitter4democracy]

32. I teach high school, so it's a bit different for me.

My students are old enough to speak for themselves, ask questions, and refuse to go anywhere. Little ones need a definite procedure, and, yes, she should have checked.

[RayOfHope]

33. My school calls on the intercom to send the kids to the office to be picked up. Parent dont get to

Come to the room to pick up their child. So if a parent shows up at my door, I know somethings not right.

[Catherine Vincent]

4. The school screwed up big time

If you don't recognize the parent, a driver's license is in order. Thankful this little girl didn't get harmed and/or killed.

And btw, the teacher isn't the only one that should get in trouble. Somebody in that front office should get the ax.

[riderinthestorm]

6. We don't know the little girl wasn't harmed. She was found "barely dressed" in a public park!

You think this ended innocently?

[Catherine Vincent]

17. Oh, I was going by one of the reports I read

[riderinthestorm]

18. Was there a different report on how she was found? I'd be interested in reading it. Thanks nt

[Catherine Vincent]

30. The report I read quoted the offical as saying she didn't appear to be harmed

It didn't say anything about the child who was found wearing only a top.

[pnwmom]

29. The bottom line was the same in all the reports. She was kidnapped by strangers

and held till somehow she got to the park She was found there in the cold, wearing only a top.

She WAS harmed. The emotional harm in itself would be huge.

[pnwmom]

22. The girl was harmed emotionally, at the very least. n/t

[Walk away]

7. Now every woman wearing a Chador will need to have ID when they pick up their children....

But what good is a photo ID if you wear a face veil? So, going forward, every woman wearing a veil will have to show their face in order to pick up their children from any place.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. Only if we all overreact to one incident.

[Fumesucker]

12. We learn more from our mistakes than from what we do correctly

This was a mistake and should be learned from, people with covered up faces are either difficult or impossible to identify.

I wonder if the girl's mother would want her daughter picked up at school again by someone whose face is covered?

[pnwmom]

23. This was predictable. In countries where chadors and face veils are common,

criminals occasionally use them to commit crimes. It was only a matter of time before this happened here.

[riderinthestorm]

9. And this is bad ...how?

Facial veiling is designed to erase women from society. It effectively renders them powerless. Why are we endorsing this most misogynistic garment again?

It has no place in Islam - its a cultural (NOT RELIGIOUS!) relic that needs to be banished from a civil society that is working to empower women, not disappear them.

[REP]

26. +a modern era

Can't add anything to this but

[pnwmom]

24. I think anyone wearing a mask or a face veil should uncover their face when picking up a child.

And either the face should be known to the staff, or a photo ID with that face should be displayed.

[JVS]

10. The simplest thing to do would be to have a principal, the child, and the woman converse until...

the child is able to confirm that the woman is indeed a known and trusted adult and is who she says she is.

[riderinthestorm]

16. Or they show a drivers license like every single one of the rest of us parents upon pick up.

I'm sorry but there's no way in hell that even with a convo a principal will know every single person who is authorized to pick up a child. Especially a scared 6 yr old!!! How are THEY supposed to be vouchsafing anyone in a mask?!

[gkhouston]

20. +1. I'm always asked to show my license, even by office staff who clearly recognize

who I am and who I'm there to pick up.

[RayOfHope]

34. Yep! My kids go to school where I teach, and my mother in law still has to show her ID when she :)

comes to pick up my kids. She doesnt get upset, she is happy the school is diligent about who the students are leaving with

[pnwmom]

27. The woman should expose her face, IMHO -- to a female staff member

who would either know her already, or could check a photo ID that shows a face.

[lonestarnot]

11. Terrible. And I have a question. If the woman who took the child is busted, wonder if they will

be able to charge her for wearing a disguise to commit a felony?

[Separation]

13. I'm a little ignorant on this subject.

But I thought the veil was for women in public so that men aren't lusting after them or something to that nature. I also thought that you couldn't be covered in your drivers lisence. All it would take is for the woman in question to be taken into a room with another female for her to verify her identity.

But it sounds like there were several screwups in this case. I just hope that the little girl in question will be ok. I'm also curious if there is more to the story, why was this girl targeted? Family issues back from where tey are from?

[LisaL]

15. They are from US.

[Separation]

19. Didn't see that one way or another

Still very weird, it was a substitute teacher in class that day who would not know the mother.

I remember when I got out of boot camp I came home and did what was called recruiter duty. Basically we would come home an talk to our friends. My recruiter was worried about a girl from Iran who was supposed to leave a week earlier did not ship and he had no contact. So I was sent in to find out what happened. Her parents were adamantly against her joining any branch of the military and she was hiding this from her parents. The night before she was supposed to leave she confided in her sister who told her parents. She was immediately sent back to Iran. It was pretty surreal and scary that this could happen.

Only reason I asked of the parents nationalitya is this reason. I don't think it was a coicidence that there was a teacher in the class that day who didn't know the parents.

[pnwmom]

25. I was wondering about the driver's license issue -- this might vary by state. n/t