MISHAWAKA, Ind. (WNDU/Gray News) – The first week of school is stressful enough for parents. But one parent of a student in Indiana got quite a surprise.

Megan Link was at home Wednesday afternoon when her 5-year-old daughter, who was supposed to attend Beiger Elementary School in Mishawaka, walked through the front door of her house.

“Suddenly my five-and-a-half-year-old daughter comes through the door and says, ‘Hi mom, I’m home,’ and I say, ‘What are you doing here?'” Link recalls.

This is a question every parent would ask their child who should be at school. But it wasn’t the only question Link had. How did her daughter get home and why wasn’t she notified?

“So my daughter was able to walk around this fence here and go out through this gate, and mind you, the gate is not lockable,” Link said. “She made it through this gate, around the sidewalk, down the next block and home. I live a block away from here and nobody noticed. How is that possible?”

Link took her daughter back to school to finish the day while she tried to figure out how this could have happened. And the answer she gave was disturbing.

“The cameras cover the entire area and stop at the corner wall on the other side of the playground,” said Link. “The director showed me that you can’t see anything behind the wall.”

Link raised her issues with the principal, but said she didn’t get the answers she was looking for.

“When the principal brought it to my attention to assure me it wouldn’t happen again, she said if it did happen, she would take away my daughter’s recess,” Link said. “You have to do your job, period. There were four adults outside with a Mishawaka security guard. How can something like that happen?”

Link spoke to an official with the School City of Mishawaka who said they were looking into the situation.

When asked, school officials said they were not aware of the ordeal and would issue a statement as soon as they had more information.

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