First Day Of School In Frankfort, Kansas

 

It's that time of year again in Frankfort, Kansas, and this story will appear once again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.
Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the significance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

First Day Of School In Frankfort, Kansas

It's that time of year again in Frankfort, Kansas, and this story will appear once again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.

Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the signifigance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe

More Kansas Track Coach Shenanigans

Todd Kaiser, a former high school track coach in Great Bend, Kansas, has been charged in district court with sexual exploitation of a minor. He was arrested in June of 2016, and he made his first appearance in court on March 6. Kaiser had worked for USD 428, as the physical education teacher at Eisenhower Elementary and as the head coach for Great Bend cross country and track teams.

Another incident that took place during 2016 in Great Bend, Kansas, involving the same school district, was a school bus where some unsupervised teenagers who had been taught, by adults in their lives, to sexually assault younger children. A sixteen year old young man and a seventeen year old young man have each been convicted of the sexual battery of a fourteen year old child on a school bus after an event for the swim team.

The obvious questions here concern the effectiveness of the adult supervision during sporting events in Kansas public schools, and how much contact these children had with this Coach Kaiser before this happened. Marshall County, Kansas, allows track coaches to abandon children alongside the highways and forget about them.

First Day Of School In Frankfort, Kansas

It's that time of year again in Frankfort, Kansas, and this story will appear once again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.

Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the signifigance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

First Day Of School In Frankfort, Kansas

 

It's that time of year again in Frankfort, Kansas, and this story will appear once again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.

Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the signifigance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

When Children Do Not Come Home

Time does not erase the pain of people whose lives have been turned upside down by the disappearance or murders of children. Nor does it reduce or eliminate the need to search for the missing or establish protocols when children do not come home.

Tom Schroeder, guidance counselor of the public school in Frankfort Kansas, knowingly took a very big chance of creating such a heartbreak for a family in his school district when he dumped a fourteen year old girl off by herself for cross country practice, four miles away from the school. When she did not return, he shrugged his shoulders and went home and had dinner. The girl's family was told that is the protocol for Frankfort, Kansas when a child disappears. Luckily, the strangers who picked up Schroeder's victim just took her back to the town from which she had been taken.

Quite a few of the locals in Frankfort, Kansas either do not understand the heartbreak caused when a child disappears, or perhaps they do, and it was planned for this family. Either way, the crass reactions of Frankfort Kansas are unacceptable, from blaming the victim to deriding the mother for not "just letting it go."

The video above details a case that started forty years ago, in suburban Maryland. Two young girls, Sheila and Katherine Lyon, ten and twelve years old, simply disappeared one day, in 1975, on their way home from Wheaton Plaza. The event illustrated, quite painfully, that protocols and immediate responses from law enforcement are necessary when a child goes missing. In stranger abductions, such as the case of the Lyon sisters, the victim is usually dead within three hours, according the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The school board for Frankfort, USD 380, has expressed that it is comfortable with children accepting rides from strangers in order to return to school after having been left in random places by teachers.

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the day that Sheila and Katherine Lyon disappeared. Hopefully, the newer avenues of investigation into the case will bring answers for their parents, John and Mary Lyon. Certainly, no further explanation should be needed by Frankfort, Kansas concerning why Tom Schroeder's actions toward the student he abandoned were criminal. If it was done deliberately, Frankfort High School should just accept the fact that the young lady finally came home safely, despite their criminal attempts, and leave the family alone.

Can You Trust Employees At Your Local School?

The troll from Northeast Kansas said:
AnonymousDecember 18, 2014 at 7:14 AM

It seems with all of your superior intelligence you forgot to mention it was a cross country coach and it was practice!!! If someone who is educated in the matter doesn't agree with you, you turn around and bash them. Like the Priest for instance. Maybe if you spent more time raising your kids they wouldn't get "lost" during practice. It seems they aren't very bright. 

And I said:

Juli HenryDecember 18, 2014 at 9:39 AMI did not neglect or forget to mention that. http://siriunsun.blogspot.com/2014/08/first-day-of-school-in-frankfort-kansas.html

Tom Schroeder and his enablers have gone out of their way to make sure that no one is "educated in this matter." They are criminals. Plain and simple. They just haven't been arrested. When they make a mistake that cannot be hidden from public view, I will be there with this information, too.

How would I have stopped Tom Schroeder from abandoning my daughter during practice, you creep? I trusted him, and he honored that by setting her up for murder. If you think Deanna isn't very bright, you aren't aware of all the scholarships she won. But then, she's not part of the local genotype, so a higher IQ would be expected in her case.

Of course I got angry with the priest. As a Catholic priest, he should have been very careful, in view of recent "problems" encountered by his contemporaries, to make sure that he never supported any action that could have made a child an easy victim for the types of things for which priests are most often sued or sanctioned.

What IS it with you people? I have never gotten an apology from USD 380 for violating my trust in them when I allowed my daughter to participate in their extra curricular activities, despite my misgivings. When the school board went out of it's way to cover up Tom Schroeder's act of abandoning my daughter four miles away from the school, by herself, and refused to tell me what protocols are followed when a child goes missing, WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENED, I realized that with no explanation for this breach of trust and for this dereliction of duty, Tom Schroeder may have done this deliberately. If so, I must wonder why. Was he setting my child up for something more sinister? Did the strangers who gave her a ride back to town simply obstruct some other purpose? No one ever got back in touch with me to answer those questions, and to assure me that the man who, either deliberately or by accident, set my daughter up to be murdered or permanently missing would never be trusted in the presence of children again. I expected no less, as any other school district would have responded that way immediately. In fact, the defensive hostility suggests something more sinister, and since my daughter was not one of Frankfort's own frankfurters, it seems entirely possible that she did not matter to Schroeder or the school board, and was, somehow, expendable. Until I get an explanation about why, when schools and parents nationwide are prohibited from such actions toward children, USD 380 continues to give Tom Schroeder a free pass to abuse and endanger children, I will continue to discuss this case with anyone who is interested in safe schools.

First Day Of School In Frankfort Kansas

School starts again tomorrow in Frankfort, Kansas, and; as promised, this story will appear again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.

Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the signifigance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

Excuse Me, Tom Schroeder; Lies?

Well, well, well! I was in the library in Frankfort, Kansas, the other day, when the guidance counselor/cross country coach of the local public school noticed me in the window and decided to come inside. If he had business of his own in the library, he did not take care of it. All of his attention was focused on yours truly. He was NOT part of any conversation in which I was engaged, or in which I intended to engage; nonetheless, he pointed his finger my direction and announced that I am a "liar". Then he further announced that I should stop "spreading lies". The he informed me, in complete contradiction to information received directly from the superintendent of USD 380, (Frankfort and Centralia schools) that there "is no such thing as open enrollment in Kansas"! That is simply not true, as many Marshall County parents will attest. Valley Heights students transfer regularly to Marysville High. The superintendent of USD 380, which includes Frankfort, stated many times to me that I can transfer my daughter to a different local high school as long as I provide transportation. And Tom Schroeder can read the policy for himself on this website. I rather suspect that he already knows, though, and was simply trying to intimidate me and encourage others to question my knowledge of the facts and my integrity. He is also very upset at the information I have furnished for the public concerning the day he abandoned my fourteen year old daughter four miles south of town, and left her alongside the highway. (she was officially missing for several hours, and he never notified me, her father, or law enforcement) His harassment of me, which was nothing short of abuse, is typical of abusers. The fact that he is currently blaming me and spreading misinformation to the effect that I somehow magnetized his form into the library in order to force him to raise his voice at me and call me names, and to otherwise publicly demoralize me, is a typical first response of that type of criminal, upon being identified by victims. And yes, stalking someone in order to verbally abuse is a crime in Kansas, as is child endangerment, and Tom Schroeder has done both. He wishes to silence me because I will not stop talking about Frankfort School, his employment there, and the danger he presents to children. Calling me a liar will not change the events Tom Schroeder is attempting to cover up and sweep away.

After allowing Tom to rant for a couple of minutes, I told him, when he stopped to catch his breath, that I was "sorry he felt that way". Unfortunately, I also, very casually, called him a "turd", but I'm sure Tom knows that the shoe fits. He stormed out of the library, attending to no other business than the important task of raging at me. At this point, my lawyer is already aware of the situation, and a couple of witnesses have already given accounts. If necessary, video footage can probably also be obtained. The problem, Frankfort, with constantly harassing someone, to the point of forcing your victim to hire legal counsel, is that your victim walks away from the situation having made the acquaintance of legal counsel. Another problem with constant harassment of someone such as myself by someone in possession of a measure or perceived authority within an insular and under socialized locale is that people like me really don't have a reason to assist people with perceived authority, but no real claim to respect, in the ongoing effort to enhance and maintain the veneer. I truly don't care who happens to be important in Marshall County's insane little cliques of racist, church-going folk, and I probably never will. When one of you openly abuses me in public, I will not shrink away, acting as if I deserve your abuse. I will remember who I am, and demand respect. If you happen to call me ugly names if front of children who attend the school where you teach or administrate, I will let you know, in no uncertain terms, that you are a turd, right in front of those children. Guess what happens after that? The children will realize that they have options other than granting you undeserved respect. It works the same way for adults: you use local law enforcement to batter me because I will not "learn how to play by the 'rules'".......quote belongs to local sheriff.......and testify falsely in court against someone to help gain a wrongful conviction against another person, I end up vindicated in the end, the wrongly accused defendant is acquitted, the county attorney is handed her posterior parts on a platter, and everyone watching suddenly realizes that there is no reason to be afraid of the county prosecutor in Marshall County, Kansas, after all. Had I been left alone, not so many people would know that the Marshall County's prosecutor is a big windbag with no litigation skills. Or, Frankfort, there is your threat of arrest by this very same prosecutor because I did not choose to send my children to your local public school, removing enrollment dollars for five children from your coffers. That gesture was to scare me into submission, and to actually attempt a public arrest, so as send a message to other parents about using any other school. Once again, I am not afraid of you. And the school I chose is actually an extension of the district in Lawrence, Kansas, and is a public school.........sending my children there is free. They even lent us two computers! There is also no charge for textbooks. You didn't want any other malcontents among the parents to know that, did you? Well now they do! Without your letter of threat, the challenge would not have seemed like such a big deal.

You see, Tom Schroeder and Frankfort, I don't have any investment in covering up anyone's lack of competence. You have been nothing but hostile to me ever since I moved here, and quite a few people have given me some reliable testimony as to your excuses for this, which happen to include my choices and my circumstances, and which are protected by my constitutional rights. I also don't have any reason to respect most of you, or to feel endeared to most of you. Now that some of you are willing to step on my rights, and not all of you have even met me or know anything about me, how do you expect me to respond? Do I actually have a reason, that you can think of, to care what any of you think? Had you guys just fired the teacher who criminally restrained and recklessly endangered my daughter by dumping her along a Kansas highway and forgetting about her, that day, all afternoon and part of the evening, I would have had much more respect for your community. As it stands at this point, I have no intention of shutting up about it. Tom Schroeder and the rest of the faculty at Frankfort School in Marshall County, Kansas, should stop spreading lies.
 

Once Again, The First Day Of School

School starts again tomorrow in Frankfort, Kansas, and; as promised, this story will appear again on this site, because the school here in Frankfort has not seen fit to come into compliance with safety standards observed by schools in other parts of Kansas, and has not come into compliance with federal law concerning the presence of weapons on school property, bullying, or student safety. The only change made is that credit shall be granted where it is due: the name of the errant and uncorrected guidance counselor who has been granted carte blanche to endanger children is Tom Schroeder.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander on a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.

Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the signifigance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was within half a mile of where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

Mothman's Response To The KBI

Not too long ago, I published this post, detailing an encounter with a Marshall County Kansas police officer who did not think that guns going to school, after hunting, with boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years old, was a serious problem. In fact, he indicated that because Kansas has a lot of republicans per capita, weapons in the hands of teens during school hours should not concern parents. The Kansas Bureau of Investigations actually asked him about this matter, and he told them that he was under the impression that the vehicles belonging to the boys were never parked on school property, or in the school parking lot, when the guns were carelessly left behind, in the vehicles. This is not what my daughter told me, and this is not what I told the police officer. What I told him was that the cars in question.......the cars containing guns.......had been parked in the school parking lot. There really aren't a whole lot of other places for a student who drives to park. This is just a problem which Marshall County Kansas and USD380 did not wish to address. The school in question is also the same school whose guidance counselor/cross country coach "lost" a female student four miles south of the school; it is also the school where doors are often left unlocked after school is dismissed and everyone has gone home; and it is the school whose faculty encouraged an angry parent and her adult child to stalk and harangue me one night after a disagreement between one of my kids and her incredibly huge and scary-looking son.

If Mothman (my nickname for this cop) simply doesn't have an answer for me, or other rare but sometimes existent parents in this town who care about their children, or have an answer for the KBI, why can't he just say so, and explain that most parents in this particular school's geographic district simply don't care about their children? Why does he have to pretend that we even discussed whose property the boys used as a parking lot? And what difference does it make? A child who is planning to shoot other children and school staff can retrieve a weapon from his locker, from his car in the parking lot, or from his car parked on the street with equal ease. Start thinking, Kansas.

 

School Is Back In Session

School is back in session in a lot of places in the Midwest today, so I will dust off this post, one more time, and post it again. The subject matter bears repeating.

Anyone who's listening, I will tell you a story. It's a true story, and it happened in October of 2009. Thankfully, it had a happy ending.

My oldest daughter used to be quite the avid cross country buff when she was thirteen years old. She was good at it, too. But one day, while she was at practice, and I was at home, just assuming that all was well, her coach drove past my house, stopping to talk to my eight year old son. Mr. Coach wanted to know if Mr. Eight Year Old had seen his older sister. Mr. Eight Year Old had not. No one had seen my daughter in over two hours. She was lost. Why was she lost? Because her coach had dropped her off by the side of a highway, four miles south of the town we live in, by herself, and just left her. It was part of cross country practice. No supervision. If she had been stung by a bee, had tripped and hurt herself, or had some other medical emergency, no one would have been there to help her. (at this juncture, you should know that I offered to volunteer to help with cross country, but since I do not attend a Christian church, my offer was rejected. The school staff thought it better to take chances with a child's safety in the way I just described) When my daughter realized that she did not know her way back, she started to wander of a side road, hoping it would bring her to a house, or another person. This area has a lot of commercial farms, and there were no houses or places my daughter could go to for help.

Back to my eight year old son.......Twenty minutes went by. While he did not realize the signifigance of his conversation with Mr. Cross County Coach, (also Mr. Guidance Counselor) he did realize that no one knew where his sister was, and it was getting later and later, and no one was looking for her. So he told me about it. I looked all over town, called all her friends, searched the school (why was the school left unlocked after everyone had gone home?) and finally started home to call the police, when a couple of senior boys drove up with my crying daughter in their car. It was still within a few minutes of when I found out she was missing, but this cross country coach had known all afternoon, and had not called the police, or spoken to me. Why? I guess whatever he cared about, it WASN'T my daughter. Well.........I actually DO care about my daughter. Nowhere else have I met a teacher that did NOT care, at least a little, about the children he teaches, but I think that is what the problem is with Mr. Cross Country Coach/ Guidance Counselor.

Suppose it was not young men from her school who found her, but a dangerous person? I have been told time and time again by the people who live in this small Kansas town that "those things don't happen here", and "there ARE no dangerous people here", but there was a sex offender whose address was with half a mile from where my daughter was abandoned. The police were quick to point that out, but the principal only argued his harmlessness as a sex offender with them and the school board is not worried about the incident.

My children no longer participate in cross country at their school. It isn't safe.

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.