In July, a 5-year-old child was left behind in a shuttle bus under the scorching sun at a nursery school in Nakama City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and died of heat stroke. On the 17th, I sent a document on suspicion of manslaughter because the child died in Fukuoka.
The documents were sent to four people, including former director Yoko Urakami (44) of "Futaba Nursery School" in Nakama City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and the nursery teacher in charge at that time.
According to the police, the four were absent from the nursery school parking lot this July, even though Fuyuo Kurakake (5 years old at the time) was still on the shuttle bus when he went to the park, but did not confirm enough. There is a suspicion of manslaughter in business because he died of heat stroke by neglecting to confirm with his parents.
At that time, Fuyu was left behind in the locked shuttle bus for about 9 hours, and as a result of police verification under the same conditions as at that time under the scorching sun, the temperature inside the bus was over 50 degrees Celsius. It means that it has risen.
According to the investigation so far, after the former director operated the bus alone, he locked the key without checking the inside of the car when unloading the child, and the nursery teacher who assisted in unloading the child was also in the car. There is a suspicion that the teacher and the deputy chief nursery teacher did not confirm the situation, even though the parents did not notify them of their absence.
According to the police, four people admitted to the investigation, and the former director said, "I'm sorry I was killed because I couldn't manage the safety."
Mother of a deceased child "too light punishment"
The mother of Fuyuo Kurakake, who died after the documents were sent to the principals at that time, made a comment.
In this, the mother said, "It's been more than four months since the death of Fuyu, but I'm still thinking about Fuyu, and I'm full of sadness and regret. When I think of Fuyu that day. It's pitiful and not pitiful. "
Then, about the fact that four people including the principal at that time were sent documents on suspicion of manslaughter, "Young Fuyusei was trapped in the heat like hell for a long time, and it was unimaginable pain and loneliness. I know that there are legal limits, but I feel that manslaughter is too light a punishment. "
He added, "No matter what the crime, Fuyu will never come back, but I hope that the people involved in Fuyu's death will be punished as heavily as possible so that such a tragedy will never happen again. I am. "
Notify facilities in the prefecture of operational guidelines to prevent administrative recurrence
In response to this incident, Fukuoka Prefecture and Nakama City have conducted special audits on the nursery school side and issued improvement recommendations, and the prefecture has taken measures such as compiling shuttle bus operation guidelines to prevent recurrence. ..
Fukuoka Prefecture and Nakama City conducted a special audit in August after the incident to prevent accidents, such as the lack of clear rules regarding how to confirm the attendance of children and how to contact the parents of children who were absent without notice. As it was confirmed that the facts violated the guidelines for safety measures, we issued an improvement recommendation to the social welfare corporation that establishes the nursery school.
In response to this, the principal of the nursery school, who was operating the shuttle bus alone, resigned and submitted a report to the prefecture summarizing efforts to improve the organization and restore trust.
In addition to this incident, Fukuoka Prefecture and Nakama City conducted a special audit again from September to October after receiving information that there was inappropriate childcare at the nursery school.
As a result, it was confirmed that the staff had improper behavior such as hitting the children, and in October, we issued a second improvement recommendation to the social welfare corporation that set up the nursery school.
The nursery school submitted a report to the prefecture last month that included measures to prevent recurrence, such as regularly checking for inappropriate childcare using a checklist, and protected it on the 11th of this month. We hold a briefing session for those who apologize.
On the other hand, in order to prevent recurrence, Fukuoka Prefecture has put together an operational guideline that includes a request to have one or more staff members other than the driver on the shuttle bus to confirm the getting on and off of children, and put it in a facility in the prefecture. I am informing you.
In addition, the national government has issued notices to nursery schools and kindergartens nationwide requesting thorough safety management, such as checking the number of children with multiple staff members when going to the kindergarten.