BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — There is a glaring issue with an app used to keep track of who can and cannot pick up children from school.
Pikmykid is an app designed to manage the student dismissal process, in a smart and secure way.
It is meant to speed up the process and gives parents real-time updates and options to have a child picked up, whether it be via bus, a parent or guardian, etc.
However, a father hundreds of miles away in Columbus, Ohio somehow got someone else's child on his page.
That child happens to be attending South Buffalo Charter School.
7 News' Pheben Kassahun spoke with Sherman Sutherland via phone, Thursday night.
"All of the information that I didn't want to know about my child was available to me. That's why I've been trying to reach out to somebody and let them know," Sutherland explained.
Sherman has been using the app for about a week now.
When he added the app and added his child, not only did his child show up but so did the Buffalo student, including the child's name, the name of the school and the student's "Pikmykid" ID.
Sutherland immediately notified his child's school.
"My concern is that somebody could have this information about my child. They called it a 'glitch' that somebody entered the wrong phone number but if somebody had my phone number for example, what's to keep them from logging in as me and having access to my child or something like that," he added.
Moving forward, he hopes his child's school does not use the app again because he feels it complicates pickup.
Kassahun also spoke with South Buffalo Charter School's Superintendent, Dave Ehrle, who said he learned about the issue Thursday afternoon from 7 News.
Ehrle said administrators have taken immediate action and have notified the parents of the student. He said parents will be notified once the school figures out how the mishap happened.
Pikmykid issued a statement to 7 News Friday afternoon, which reads:
"The safety of students is our foremost priority at Pikmykid. We have discussed this incident at length with the school leadership in question and they are in agreement that at no point the student’s safety or information was compromised."
Pikmykid
