Rishon-Letzion Special-Ed Boy Left Outside in Heat, Staff Sent Home Under House Arrest

Two staff members at a special education kindergarten in Ramla have been removed from their jobs and placed under house arrest on suspicion of abuse and serious neglect of a 5-year-old boy. According to the suspicion, the child, who has special needs and does not understand surrounding dangers, was taken outside the building and left alone in the yard as a punishment during an episode he was experiencing.

The boy is said to have remained outside for more than 20 minutes, crying and screaming in severe heat. The case came to light only after a neighbor living near the kindergarten heard the child from her home, went outside, found him locked out with no adult supervision, tried to help him, and recorded what she saw on her phone.

The neighbor then shared the video in local WhatsApp groups to help identify his parents. The boy’s mother, Hadas Peretz, said she learned what happened from strangers. “No one from the staff called me, I found out through strangers and it broke me,” she said. “She heard him from her house, so how is it possible that the staff inside the kindergarten did not hear? He was screaming and crying.”

Peretz said she rushed to the kindergarten after seeing the footage and confronted the teacher in charge. “What are you doing? Where is your responsibility? What is this, leaving a child outside in this heat?” she recalled saying. She said the staff did not comfort the child during the episode, but instead punished him outside and caused him additional trauma.

Following the mother’s urgent complaint to police, the two staff members were barred from the kindergarten for two weeks and are now under house arrest. The boy has been recommended to return to the kindergarten, which is currently operating with a completely replacement staff, so his essential therapy routine is not disrupted and to reinforce that he is not at fault. Police in Ramla and the Ministry of Education are still investigating the circumstances.