To ask if you would be happy with a stranger walking your child home without your knowledge?

[Herenorthere]

I feel a bit weird about this situation but am expected to be told I am BU.
I have name changed.

DS attends an afterschool activity. The kids are all secondary age, the youngest is 11. They can all leave alone although some are picked up. They are all DBS checked obviously. DS has told me that one of the new staff members has started to walk home one of the younger boys each night. He has to walk out of his way to do this. Based on what has been said neither the activity leader nor the boys parents know this is happening. The staff member turns back before he gets fully home.

AIBU to feel a bit weird about this, I know they are DBS checked and part of me would be grateful my child was not walking home alone in the dark but it makes me a bit uncomfortable even from just a perspective of being a silly position to put yourself in as a staff member.

He may not have bad intentions and is genuinely worried, but the secrecy is a big problem.

HOW would your schoolboy DS know if
organisers or the other parents, are aware of the arrangement? For all DS knows it has been arranged and approved by both.

What "secrecy" ? Its in public view ; OP has already said the kids and another adult are aware of it.

When you say he turns back do you mean he goes right back the way he came or turns off because he can get to his house a different route than he may take if he wasn't accompanying the child part of the way home. Also how does your DC know its out of his way? Does he know where the leader lives?

I understand he shouldn't put himself in that position and why the rules are there, but I think it's quite sad also that someone can't look out for a young child walking home alone in the dark without suspicious being raised.
People's comfort levels with how old children need to be to journey on their own vary a lot (as can often be seen on MN threads!) It's possible he feels the child is too young to make the trip on their own which is why he's escorting them. It's not his place to make that decision of course, which is why he doesn’t go to the door - it would be like judging the parents.
Or he could be a creep.
I wouldn't like my 11 year old walking home alone in the dark for what it's worth. But I would like to know who they're with too.

From the op:

Based on what has been said neither the activity leader nor the boys parents know this is happening

☝️ This secrecy.