4 year old wanders away from playground

Austin American-Statesman
Category: school safety
Level: local
This article is concerning an issue that individuals/families face.

This is important to families/individuals because there is no reason for children to be wandering away from their playground at school. Parents should not get a call from school saying their child has walked away when it is a problem that is 100% avoidable.

My views on this issue:
I was unaware that schools had the choice to fence their playgrounds or not fence them. I have always assumed that a fence around a playground was standard. It seems silly to me that we would even face the issue of children mindlessly wandering away from their school. I understand the viewpoint that these schools want to welcome people of the community to use their parks and see fences as a potential deterrent, but I feel like a simple solution to that would be to have a gate on the fence that is locked during school hours and unlocked or left open after hours. This allows safety during recess time and public access after hours.
The fact that this little girl walked away unnoticed blows my mind, but I also feel bad for the teacher that was responsible for her. Watching a big group of children is difficult and it isn't hard to lose track of one momentarily. While some fault does fall on the teacher, I think a lot of fault falls on the school and their lack of safety precautions.
While I feel that this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place, I am glad that the elementary schools in the Austin area are taking this opportunity to mend the issue and revisit their safety protocols,