Somehow, 15-year-old Nashaly Perez Rodriguez went missing from her special-needs school in the middle of the day.
According to reports, Nashaly has “severe emotional problems” and walked out of Lillian L. Rashkis School in Brooklyn on Monday. Police say she was wearing a white bandanna, a red blouse, black jeans and red and black sneakers. The New York Times reported:
The disappearance came almost a year after Avonte Oquendo, a teenager with autism, ran out an unguarded exit at his school in Queens, leading to a months long search that ended in January with the discovery of his remains.
Nashaly’s mother, Sandra Rodriguez, said she arrived at school around 1 p.m. on Monday to pick up her daughter, and the paraprofessional who was assigned to help her daughter throughout the day said that Nashaly had left at lunchtime. Ms. Rodriguez, who said that no one at the school seemed concerned about her daughter’s disappearance, then called the police.
“Everyone stood where they were, everyone kept doing what they were doing,” she said of the school’s staff.
Ms. Rodriguez’s boyfriend, William Brewley, said Nashaly had been hospitalized multiple times for suicidal thoughts and was taking Risperdal, an antipsychotic medication, and Tenex, which is used to treat A.D.H.D.
Ms. Rodriguez’s lawyer, David H. Perecman, said that it was unclear whether Nashaly was supposed to be monitored at all times at school or was free to leave whenever she wanted.
Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said in a statement, “I am deeply concerned about this student and we have school support on site as we work with the N.Y.P.D. to investigate this matter.”
Mr. Perecman, who also represents Avonte’s family in a lawsuit against the city, said the disappearance of another student showed that the school system had not improved its safety protocols.
