All the "facts" released in this case seem to have a contradictory "fact" to go along with it.
School lets out at 2:32 according to the
GPE website.
Sgt. Dan Mahla is quoted (and reporter asks him to verify) that Somer was released by the school at 2:50 p.m.
But she was last seen by her siblings at 2:45 p.m.
Sgt. Mahla also states that she caught up with her siblings in the 1100 block of Gano, which someone here pointed out would be AFTER the Gano House. (So how could Kyle be the last one to see her if she caught up with them after the Gano House? Are they discounting what any kid reported and only accepting adults' word?)
My son is a special education teacher with kids Somer's age and under. When school is ready to let out, he gathers two groups: those being picked up by parents and those being bused (there are no walkers that I know of, but they would be led out with the group as well). Those groups are escorted by teaher and aides to the appropriate places. There are plenty of teachers out there and everybody knows everybody. At this point, if a child got into a fight or ran off, he would personally take the child aside and stay with the child, and if necessary, call the parent(s) if the child could not be calmed down.
He personally escorts the bused students onto the bus. Kids are counted again. The car riders are supervised by aides and teachers. There are no children left on school premises unless they are involved in pre-planned after school activity or are children of teachers who work there. I am sure there are kids at his school who are also in ISS; the teachers are a close-knit bunch. They all know what is going on in one anothers' rooms, ESPECIALLY about kids with problems. Somer running off would classify her as one with a problem. Extra attention would be paid to her behavior and she would be monitored.
If she was routinely running off from the group, fighting with other kids, etc., the parents would have been notified. Suggestions would be made for parents to work on this behavior at home and teacher would be monitoring her at school. If there were frequent issues like her being picked on, fighting, etc, it would be documented by one or more of her teachers. A team conference may be held. Parents may be called in to discuss the problem and how it impacted her in school. A group conference with parent and teachers is a routine occurrence with issues like this.
There are NO children in the building even 2 minutes after school officially lets out. Classroom doors are closed and/or locked. Any teacher who allowed this to happen (without explained activity, etc., as stated above) would be reprimanded. Each and every child is counted and accounted for several times. This is the normal protocol for teachers and students according to strict guidelines in this county's school. I don't know if guidelines vary from County to County.
Once the child is off school property, that is another story. Hopefully the child has caring persons to follow up and make sure he/she is safe.
On the day this happened, Somer allegedly got into a fight with another child. I'm not clear if it happened at school or when out of school. If it happened at school she may have been held back while the teacher called (or tried to call) her parent as a cautionary measure. Certainly if she left late, the teacher would not let her go off all alone. Were the siblings waiting for her? She was with them for some period of time.
Just yesterday I was on the receptoinist desk as a fill-in when I got a call from a co-worker's son's high school. I paged the co-worker and had a difficult time finding her. The person at school held and held and said they would hold until the parent had been located. The reason turned out to be that the boy was sick, and the school wanted permission from the mother for him to be allowed to drive home. This explains exactly what I am talking about. This was in HIGH SCHOOL.
