Phone Call To Northeast Kansas School's Insurance Company

At a meeting at my childrens' school yesterday, I was told by the secretary that while the superintendent had, indeed, told everyone concerned that all adults not employed by the school should, upon entrance to the building, sign in at the office, he was not serious and that it was not actually required. The principal backed her up, stating the the school's lawyer had told him that accounting for adult presences in the building in such a manner was unnecessary. So we are back to everyone from the local Avon lady pimping last year's lipstick shade in the hallway to the local sex offender registrants dropping in to use the restrooms. A "visaul" sign-in, wherein the secretary personally knows everyone who might pop in for some reason, and remembers each and every person who passes through the office will be just fine, no need to take the same precautions the rest of the nation's schools take in protecting children. And, oh.....the secretary absolutely knows everyone who might enter the school, too. And she is clairvoyant enough to know exactly which people present danger or have ulterior and unlawful motives and which people are innocent parents. Without a doubt. She will also psychically know if someone has gotton into the building, completely escaping her notice, and is hiding out in the janitor's closet, at which time she will call the principal and the football coach, who, in turn, can handle any emergency. This makes me uncomfortable, as my children are entitled to a safer school experience than that. It also is not compliant with the requirements of public schools in the rest of Kansas, or America, for that matter. It also is not only a tragedy waiting to happen, but a liability waiting to happen, so I decided to skip the normal channels I usually use when providing government employees with new anal passages and called Insurance Services of Seneca, who covers the school's insurance needs, and spoke with a young man named Matt Bachman about the liability and risk with which his company is involved. He listened, and was a bit surprised that the school board was unconcerned about students and their safety. It was also a bit of a surprise to hear that the superintendent would promise a parent one thing, and immediately negate that promise without telling the parent. What stunned him the most, though, is the statement I made about missing children, evidence, and law enforcement. If a child were ever to disappear from that particular school, law enforcement and the FBI would need a written list of every, single adult to enter the building on the day said child went missing. "Visual" sign-ins and the wiles of an inexperienced secretary DO NOT count. Without that information, a crime such as a kidnapping could take years to solve, if it was ever solved. As a taxpayor, I certainly have a right to higher standards than that for my children. Another thing about which I made him aware is this: if anything unsavory happens to any of my children at this school, and investigations reveal that it could have been prevented with simple accountability that was not implemented, I WILL take action. It will be an open and shut case, because children do have rights to appropriate protection, and after my lawyer is paid, someone WILL be making a hefty donation to the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children. If not the school district itself, the insurance company who covers the school district would probably have to pay. Insurance companies will not cover drivers who consistantly get pulled over for DWI, and they quibble about pre-existing conditions; well how is allowing the public at large access to a school for a pre-existing condition?

Thankyou so much, Matt Bachman, for listening to me, and thankyou for caring enough to try to stop a tragedy before it happens.

News For A Small Kansas Town

To those of you who continue to argue the wisdom of child neglect and carelessness with me, calling me all kinds of ugly names because I favor prudence over recklessness, I will address this post. Hopefully, someone out there in cyberkansas will listen to me, and if I save just one life, it will have been worth the five minutes or so it will take to make this entry.

The National Center For Missing And Exploited Children is a respected resource for excellent information about child safety. They not only deal with missing children, but in prevention of situations that pose the danger of children going missing. Those who get on Siri's World merely to vent anger at yours truly for her higher expectations really need to study the NCMEC and put the recommended commonsense practices to work. From now on, I will be writing letters and sharing information with anyone involved with student safety at the national level to ensure that this common sense eventually reaches Northeast Kansas.

In April, I posted http://siriunsun.blogspot.com/2011/04/child-safety-and-kansas-schools.html , in which I detailed how a cross country coach/guidance counselor took the cross country team to practice at a location about four miles south of our town. He had all of the boys, but my daughter was the only girl who attended practice that day. He was the only teacher present. He dropped her off by herself, in a place that she had never been before, where, also, a sex offender lived in the nearest house......about a mile away or less, and just left her. She got lost, he could not find her, and he proceeded to look for her by himself for about two hours; he did not tell me that my daughter was missing, he did not call the police. Eventually, my daughter was found BY ACCIDENT, by some students who were out driving. Something I find disturbing is the number of comments I have gotton, from Kansas people......not the rest of the world......blaming my daughter for that situation!!! Folks! My daughter was only fourteen! It was the COACH'S responsibility to ensure her safety! If I cannot count on the school staff to use appropriate judgement, how can I or my children respect the school? How can any parent trust this school? I kinda, sorta don't, very much, anymore. It is the local school, that my taxes pay for, and I send my children there, but I do not have a feeling of trust for the community. As long as the coach who "lost" my daughter is still welcome to endanger more students, I don't think I will, either. But let me get back to this thingie I was onto about dumping children on the roadside by themselves and how it was supposedly my daughter's fault she went missing for an afternoon. Here is what the NCMEC has to say about it, in "know the rules: child safety in sports":

"Are there other adults present, besides the coach, to assist in supervising children during team events and practices, including any off-site travel? The coach should not be alone with children during team events, practices, sleepovers, or trips. You should know the names of the others who supervise and have access to your children and meet them in advance of any team activities."........NCMEC

The next point I want to make is pretty simple. Several of my gentle posters (haha) have protested that Mr. Guidance Counselor/Cross Country Coach had other students searching for my daughter that day. I guess that would be fine.......under certain circumstances. Any police station will give you the information that in the case of any missing person, adult or child, the first three hours are crucial. So why were not the police involved in the "search" (which really didn't happen folks......that was a LIE to protect the school and save face for the coach) instead of teenagers who were not search and rescue experts? Also, there WAS a sex offender nearby.....suppose a situation with that person, or someone happening upon my daughter on the highway had been the cause of my daughter's absence, instead of her simply becoming lost? How would another child have handled that? Failing to notify parents and proper authorities was dangerously irresponsible for all involved.

So there you have it. Northeast Kansans are either behind the times, or children are not important to them. I really do not care what connections the cross country coach/guidance counselor had or has, there likely is no other place, in this nation, where this person would still be employed at a school. I also do not know what kind of koolaide the school and community are serving about this incident, ( to those of you with personal knowledge) I can assure everyone that my daughter's safety was the school's resposibility, and that teacher has NO EXCUSE for what happened that day.

One more point, about which I want to be very clear: I never want to see a child from this area go missing or become the victim of a crime. It is easy to sit back and assume that "it will never happen here", or "those things don't happen in________",(you fill in the blank....could be anywhere) but consider what happened to Kyron Horman, who disappeared from his school in June of 2010. No one who worked at Kyron's school thought a thing like that would happen there, either. Please believe me when I tell you that the extra time and trouble it takes to supervise students and account for them properly is very, very worthwhile. Also, know that if any child does go missing from this particular school or becomes the victim of a crime, as a result of irresponsible conduct or unsound judgement on the part of a school employee, I will share every letter and document I have relating to the above cited incident with the proper authorities and the media.