Na'illa, in the age of Newtown

NAJASHIA O'NEAL stood outside West Philadelphia's Bryant Elementary on Tuesday, the day after a 5-year-old girl was abducted from a classroom there, and watchfully eyed her own kids as they were dismissed from the school.

"This is not the first time something happened at this school," said O'Neal, 27, whose son was in the same kindergarten class as Na'illa Robinson when, police say, an unidentified woman skirted security measures and took the girl out of class Monday.

Na'illa was found Tuesday morning without obvious physical harm, cops said. But for O'Neal and other parents at the school - which also made headlines in late 2011, after three students were arrested for allegedly indecently assaulting another boy in a bathroom - enough is enough.

"I'm transferring my kids out," said O'Neal, who has a 5-, 6- and 9-year-old in the school.

Other parents said that they've heard of problems with parents who don't have custody of children being allowed to pick them up without the school checking their names against the emergency-contact list.

Hilary and Armisted Bey, who have three kids at Bryant, said they've already started the process to transfer their children - and echoed that this isn't the first time there have been security issues at the school. "I'm upset and appalled by it," Hilary Bey said as she waited for her kids outside. "They need to buckle down."

The security breach occurred at a time when the Philadelphia School District was already reviewing its security procedures in the wake of the school shooting last month in Newtown, Conn.

School district Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Tuesday night that Newtown gave the district an "opportunity to communicate safety protocol and process to every single school principal and directed them to share them with staff." But he called the kidnapping "a breakdown."

"I'm happy that the child was found and reunited with her family," Hite said. "We plan to cooperate with police to find the animal who took this child from the school."

District spokesman Fernando Gallard called the abduction "a complete breakdown of protocols." The teacher who was in the classroom when the girl was taken - a substitute - has been pulled from the classroom and won't be reassigned until the investigation is complete.

Bryant's principal, Roy McKinney, and the aide who greeted the abductor at the school's sign-in desk remain on the job as the investigation continues, Gallard said.

O'Neal said that she spoke with McKinney on Tuesday about the kidnapping and that she was concerned when she noticed that the sign-in desk aide was still there.

"If the real teacher was here, that wouldn't have happened," O'Neal said, adding that the class' normal teacher was ill. "They all need to be fired."

Two letters were sent home to parents on Tuesday - one from McKinney and another from a school psychologist who answered students' questions about the abduction.

"Please know that today, I will continue to investigate the situation to determine if district/school protocols were followed accordingly," McKinney wrote in his letter. "I will update you on my findings."

Gallard detailed the protocols that should have been followed:

* The noontime aide should have guided the visitor to the principal's office, which would have had to authorize a special release during the school day.

* The abductor, who was wearing a burqa, should have had to present ID and to show her face. Then authorities would have checked the ID against school records.

* The student's release to the visitor should have taken place in the office - not in the classroom, as occurred in Na'illa's case.

* School staff should have recorded the student's information, reason for dismissal, time of dismissal and the adult's name and her relationship to the pupil.

Meanwhile, school officials said they developed a new deployment plan for Bryant that includes a second person at the school's front entrance. Gallard said the change will "ensure that visitors visit the main office."

Ernest Davidson, whose grandson was also in Na'illa's class when the girl was kidnapped, said he didn't have safety concerns about the school before the abduction.

"It shakes you up. His mama was shaken," Davidson said. "To take a kid out of school with no ID - just a face and an illegible signature - is just not good enough for the safety of our children with what's going on now."