Frankfort Kansas Doesn't Like Operation Found Safe

This list was shared on the Facebook page for Operation Found Safe, which is an organization whose mission is to educate and train communities to prevent such tragedies as missing and exploited children. The list was too big for the sidebar, so it will have to be a post. 

Some information that may clear up some misunderstandings on the parts of certain local trolls on this site is the fact that after my fourteen year old daughter was "lost" by Tom Schroeder, guidance counselor of Frankfort High in Kansas, the effort to sweep the whole incident under the rug and remain in denial actually included refusing the help of this organization! My husband and I contacted multiple organizations that address child safety and missing children, and presented their dossiers and contact information to the school board of USD 380, and the result was total apathy on the part of USD 380. And yes, trolls, I have all the information and exchanged letters, which we took to a school board meeting and presented. Frankfort simply isn't interested in child safety. 

Kansas Schools Lose Another Student

Anyone remember this post, about a school in Frankfort, Kansas, and a guidance counselor who dumped a female high school student alongside the highway and left her there? It happened in another Kansas public school to another fourteen year old! Band students at Eisenhower High school were on a field trip last week, and when the bus stopped at a gas station, a young man was left behind! The school did not bother to count the number of students aboard the bus when it left the gas station, and did not immediately take steps to retrieve their missing student, once it was discovered that he was not on the bus. He sat at the gas station with no money and no cell phone for over three hours.

Annette Singletary, director of "community relations" for Goddard Public Schools, did not feel that a missing child was a big enough problem for the child's parents or the general public to know what disciplinary measures had been taken to ensure that the two teachers responsible would never "lose" a child at school again, and was unwilling to broach the subject with the media.

Sadly, the message sent by this is that children are not important in Kansas, and Kansas public schools are very lax about safety and security.

 

 

Can The School Please Keep Track Of It's Visitors Now?

Several months ago, I wrote a letter to the superintendent of my childrens' school concerning the presence of adults, unaccounted for, in the building. Since then, I have been given the cold shoulder, and my children have been encouraged by the school to treat my husband and myself with scorn and disrespect for such things as insisting that they be home by a certain time every evening, that they never consume alcohol, and that we know where they are at all times. After the incident that occured yesterday, in Connectucut, at Sandy Hook Elementary, I decided to repost this letter, because of the relevance.

 

Here's a letter I wrote to the superintendent of schools in the school district that includes my childrens' school. I have substituted the letter X for proper nouns, as identities of individuals and places are not necessary to the point of my letter.

Dear Mr. XXXX,

I was in the office at XXXX School yesterday, returning two of my children to school after an appointment at the eye doctor. One of the first people I noticed, because he was out of place, was a Mr. HXXXX, (I have forgotton his first name) who lives in town, but no longer has any children who attend this school. Not only did his name NOT appear on the sign-in sheet that you told me would remain in the office for any adult who visits the building but is not on the payroll; I am curious about the need for his volunteer services and his qualifications. My children cannot participate in certain sports, because you have spurned my offers to volunteer based on my popularity scores here in XXXX that have little to do with my character or other qualifications, which probably, by far, exceed the qualifications of other parents who volunteer at your school. Have you checked the criminal record of Mr. HXXXX? His two sons, who are both young adults, still live in his house, and I have personally heard them both discuss the use of illegal drugs. Mr. HXXXX was physically present when his sons were speaking. Apparently, Mr.HXXXX does not take prohibition laws seriously. After hearing those comments, I do not allow my daughter to even visit that home to buy Avon from his wife. I don't want my children in that type of environment. Also, I have seen him allow minors, his sons, when they were still in high school, to drink beer in his home. This is not the person I find appropriate to volunteer in the school, and share his "influence" with my children, thankyou very much. Also, since this is such a small town, and since at least one of Mr. HXXXX's children has experienced "run-ins" with the law in the past, in connection to violations of prohibition laws and alcohol, I will contend that your principal, Mr. DXXXX, was aware of this, yet welcomed him into the building anyway.

Since the rules apply stringently to yours truly, to the extent of her own children not being able to participate in sports because the adult/child ratio is unsafe in your school during these activities, and that does not bother you; I am curious to know why Mr. HXXXX, who violates the law in connection to children and alcohol in ways I would never even consider, is welcomed with open arms into your building. Would you please explain the bias to me? Also, why is he not required to sign in, as I do, whenever I enter your building? Why does his wife use your school as a venue for her Avon business? I sold Avon on the East Coast, and would never have considered a school building an appropriate place to dispense product and collect revenue for same. This takes the attention of teachers and other staff away from children and creates an atmosphere of business other than education. It is not safe for the students. Please make it stop.

I have one more question for you. Is this IP number, XXXX, in any way associated with computers in your school buildings? If so, you have at least one teacher who harrasses others for political reasons. My children and I should NOT KNOW where anyone on your staff stands on issues such as abortion, yet we do, and we should certainly not know for whom any of your teachers intends to vote! Please ask them to all be less obvious about their political stances.

Sincerely,
XXXX

............In all fairness, I should convey that the superintendent did respond to my letter, the same day he got it. He told me that the sign-in sheet in the office would be in use from now on, whether the local Kansas folk wished for that or not. He also told me that the Avon Lady would no longer be making stops at the school, as this is against policy for several reasons. I should add that the Avon Lady also never bothers to sign in at my childrens' school, and moves freely through the building as if she worked there or had children there. Neither apply to her.

The superintendent was not able to explain the inherent nastiness and unjust prejudism expressed by these people toward myself and other members of my family. He was not able to explain the constant pressure to vote for a presidential candidate who is not of my choosing. He was also not able to tell me why my children and I even know for whom most of these teachers intend to vote. He and I both agreed that if a child ever disappears from this particular school or is otherwise harmed there, the FBI will be VERY interested in the number of unofficially present adults in the school from day to day, and in their identities, activities, and criminal records. That said, it seems to me that persons who have unlawful recreational drugs in their homes from time to time, and persons who allow minors to drink alcoholic beverages in their homes, should take heed.

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.

Response To Some Folks Who Think I Am Unfair

Ok; I've gotton some posts from people who claim that I am not fair to the faculty of the school my children attend. If you have been following this blog, you will know that I have a very low opinion of teachers who abandon students outside of town, "lose" them, and fail to call the cops or the parents. That incident, outlined in http://siriunsun.blogspot.com/2011/04/child-safety-and-kansas-schools.html , should have been enough to inspire major changes at the school, including the discharge of the faculty member involved. It was inexcuseable. I truly worry about things like this happening much more often then I did in West Virginia OR Washington DC. And someone mentioned that people actually "tried to help my kids"........???????????.........Help them do what??? Help them get lost? Help them get kidnapped? Help them not learn the same things children their ages are learning in places where education is taken more seriously? You guys are nuts! If you don't like the fact that I blog about this, you should see the letters I sent to certain other people, in both high and low places, about this! It was wrong, no matter how you shake it up and sprinkle it out! I am not going to stop talking about it! Why should I? The teacher who did it still works at the school!

Also, this school is welcome, and advised, to stop pushing it's religion on my children. What's a so-called public school doing with it's own religion, anyway? You don't really believe in it, and even as an outsider, I can poke holes into all of your innane religious nonsense notions. And while you're at it, you can keep your drunken teachers (check some of your 80's history against a recently retired teacher) away from my kids. If showing up for work, as a teacher, drunk, is ok with you guys, we are NOT on the same page.

You can stop passing children who don't earn promotions, and keep children who CANNOT earn promotions away from the rest of the students. Try consolidating the schools; then you can do things like that, and teach more.

And, while you guys are busy preaching, I'd like your sons to leave my daughters alone. They don't have anything my daughters want.

I think that covers it, for now. For those of you who don't have anything to do with this, I apologize. This is the last time I will respond to anyone who wants to attack me personally on my blog. And folks who are part of this, if you have an intellectually driven reason to share concerning why a teacher should abandon a student and not let anyone know when the student is missing for over two hours, just discuss that.......don't go into the nasty comments about me. I am actually a very nice person, and I have a very nice personality, I just don't have it around people who don't care about children. If I didn't feel the way I feel, it would be because I didn't love my children. Don't expect me to ever back down about child safety.

Once again, I apologize to those who just stumbled onto here and have no idea what or who I am talking about. Those who do know what I am talking about know exactly who they are. Even though they make their comments anonymously.............................

Warning To Students From Topeka Police

Police urge caution as school begins.....................................Who do they think they are kidding?

I will do a public service here, and list all of the tips that cjonline got from the Topeka police for kiddies going to school this year:
■ Only cross the street at crosswalks and watch for cars driving in the area.
■ Obey all traffic signals. Never cross the street against a red light, even if you don’t see any traffic coming.
■ Take the most direct route to school.
■ Walk with a buddy.
■ Never approach strangers. If a stranger approaches you, don’t go anywhere with them. Call out and draw attention to yourself and the stranger and get away. Be sure to report any instances of strangers approaching children to the police.
■ Watch out for dogs on the loose. Don’t approach a loose dog, and don’t touch it.
Children riding the bus should remember these safety tips:
■ Have a safe place to wait for your bus, away from traffic and the street.
■ Stay away from the bus until it comes to a complete stop and the driver signals you to enter.
■ When being dropped off, exit the bus and walk away to keep a safe distance between you and the bus. Remember the bus driver can see you best when you are the farthest from the bus.
■ Be aware of the street traffic around you. Drivers are required to follow certain rules of the road concerning school buses, but not all do. Protect yourself and be alert.

Now; does anyone remember a post I put on this blog back in April? It was one of my first posts. http://siriunsun.blogspot.com/2011/04/child-safety-and-kansas-schools.html This is when I described what happened when a guidance counselor/cross country coach dropped my daughter off by herself four miles south of our town, and allowed her to be MISSING for over two hours without telling anyone. And when he did tell someone my daughter, fourteen at the time, was missing, he chose to ask an eight year old boy if he had seen her, rather than contacting me or the police. Inexcusable. But he still works at the school, in the same capacity, providing the same dangers to children at taxpayors' expense. So I would add one more piece of advice, Topeka police:

 If your guidance counselor dumps you somewhere outside of town by yourself, and you lose your way, always make sure you have a cell phone, and dial 911 THE MINUTE you realize you are lost.

Eaven Is Still Missing

Eaven Reisen has not been found yet; I was hoping to check the news and discover otherwise this morning. More information has been shared, however. Her name is pronounced "Evan", and she is about four feet tall. There is also a color picture of her, which I will run in this post.

I just want to say something to all the good folk of Kansas........and I mean that, most of you are good people. But a lot of you have a tendency to feel that certain dangers do not exist within your communities and that things like murder, terrorism, and crimes against children "do not happen here". As a result, you allow anyone and everyone access to the insides of your schools, you do not even ask visitors to your schools to sign in anywhere, so that you actually know who is visiting your school. You allow any adult who claims a connection to any child to pick said child up from school. When the children are home from school, you allow them to play, blocks and blocks from home, unsupervised........and it does not matter how old or young they are, either. As long as they are potty trained, they can go to the park without you.

I do enjoy living here in Kansas, for the most part. I like not having to drive in Washington DC or Houston's rush hour traffic. I like being able to ride my bicycle almost anywhere I want to go in my small town without going up and down West Virginia's hills. I like being able to let my children walk to school and ride their bicycles. And I enjoy co-existing with most of you, even though you are often stuck-up for reasons I have yet to determine and not as friendly as people are in most of the other places I have lived. A lot of you enjoy gardening, and that is a passion many of you and I share. Especially when you share cuttings of plants with me that have done well in your yards.......that's so cool. But please.........don't tell me that there is something wrong with wanting to know where all of my children are at ALL times. And don't ever tell me that your community is somehow immune to tragedy. It isn't. We all share the same planet, and no place on it is immune to the choices made by ourselves and others. And the advent of motor vehicles and mass ownership of motor vehicles made the world one big community long before the internet, but now that we also have the internet, the world is one big communicating community. That means that while you can facebook all your friends, anyone who wants to grab a child of Eaven's age can quietly and easily communicate with any co-conspirator who can read the same language. Think about it. That, alone, should make you want to keep a closer eye on your children.

A couple of years ago, I had to put the smackdown on the people who run my childrens' school because they honestly felt that it would be appropriate to drop children off by themselves four miles south of town for cross country practice. No cell phone, no supervision. If a child had gotton hurt there would have been no help; if someone with a weapon had grabbed them, or in this case, her; we never would have found out what happened. As a result, my daughter no longer participates in cross country, since I was shouted down by the good, Christian Kansans who felt that supervising children under these circumstances would have ruined our "small town environment". No kidding, folks......the coach who did this still works at the school, too. Nowhere else in the country would he be able to get a job working with children after that incident, but Kansas is unconcerned about child safety.

Wake up, people in Kansas! Stop trying to tell me that "these things don't happen here." They do, just like they happen anywhere. The sun shines here, it rains here, (sometimes) the law gravity applies here, we pay taxes here, and anything that can happen to a kid in New York can also happen to a kid here under the right circumstances. It is irresponsible to allow children to play, blocks and blocks away from you home, where you cannot see them, with no supervision.

I hope and pray that Eaven Reisen is found unharmed. It is my opinion that if she simply got lost or injured, she would have been found by this time. Here is more information about her. Please, copy a few pics of her, make others aware of this, if they are not already, put a couple of pictures up where people can see them, and look for her wherever you go today.

I truly hope that the next time I post about Eaven, it will be to annouce that she has been found and is safe at home.