A New Home For A Teacher From Marshall County, Kansas

Michael Melcher, of this post, was arrested in the fall of 2016 for sex crimes against children. This happened in Butler County, Kansas. Prior to living in that area, Melcher was a native of Marshall County, Kansas, and taught at Marysville High School, in Marshall County, Kansas. Many, many people in Marshall County thought he was not guilty, and insisted that the charges had been dismissed, when in fact, the case had been bound over for trial.

Later on, in March of this year, Melcher incurred a guilty verdict, at which point, his employer, USD 490, finally terminated his employment. Had he not had so many enablers, tax payers would not have been required to pay for an extended leave of absence for this criminal. Melcher's picture also graces the sex offender registries, both state and national. Last week, he was sentenced to thirty-two months in prison.

Mr. Melcher's enablers can rest assured that the verdict is correct for three reasons. First, he finally came forward with an admission of guilt. He also offered a makeshift apology, which was never offered to anyone, prior to his arrest and court proceedings. Second, there was not only eyewitness evidence and testimony in the case, but electronic evidence, supporting the claims of the victims. Third, there was a victim statement at the sentencing. This is encouraging, because victims of these well connected creeps are usually not encouraged to speak in Kansas.

One question that is left unanswered here concerns how Mr. Melcher got away with these abusive predilections in Marshall County, Kansas; and specifically, who may have been paid to overlook the abuse. Marshall County attorney, Laura McNish, stated, upon running for election in 2013, that she wanted to "continue to partner with law enforcement, courts, schools and parents to promote justice, protect children, and uphold the law." Turning a blind eye to crime and allowing abusers to quietly move to other communities when victims file reports is obviously one of the county attorney's methods of protecting children! Finding out that crime and abuse are not accepted or appreciated in the rest of the known universe is always a shock for those who find favor with the court in Marshall County, Kansas.

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.

One More Creepy Kansas Coach

What is the dealio with Kansas and public school coaches? Scott Madden, former employee of Baxter Springs High School in Cherokee County, Kansas, groomed a fifteen year old female student for sexual abuse and proceeded to sire her first child!

                                                          Larry Scott Madden

Madden was sentenced to eight years in prison. It hardly seems enough. Hopefully, his former community will ask the children some questions and figure out how all this happened in the first place. It was never a coach's job to teach a young girl about adult responsibility by transforming her into a parent.

Another coach who behaved irresponsibly toward a teenage female student in Kansas, this one fourteen years old, is employed by USD 380, in Northeast Kansas. Parents have accepted the standard procedure of dropping female teens off, along deserted dirt roads or the highway, during the day. Accepting rides from strangers is permissible, inasmuch as the school board of USD 380 is concerned. The faculty member who does this is considered an "asset" to Frankfort High School. If this behavior defines an asset, your blogger would certainly hate to see what USD 380 would consider a liability! The reason a child was abandoned alongside the road was never revealed. Those of us with intelligence and insight still await an answer.

No amount of victim-blaming or bribery will control the factors that make criminally inclined or criminally irresponsible teachers, coaches, or guidance counselors so dangerous. The roads are open for use by everyone, and the laws of physics are no respecters of persons.

Teachers Surprised When Parents Speak Up

This is a complete outrage. A Michigan teacher bullies and jeers at an autistic student trapped in a chair, rather than helping him. She also encourages the rest of the class to do the same. Then the principal chimes in to announce that freeing him is not a matter of high priority. He wisely resigned, after the boy's parents shared the video the teacher played several times more the class, ridiculing the child.

Frankfort Kansas has a coach who "lost" a student during cross country practice, one day. Actually, since she was the only girl in attendance for cross country practice that day, she was dropped off by herself on a road where she had never been. When she got lost, and did not come back, Tom Schroeder, the cross country coach guidance counselor, not unlike the Michigan principal above, did not think it was a priority to find her. If he did, he certainly would have notified the teen's parents and law enforcement. But it wasn't a priority at Frankfort High School. Should he still be employed? Those of us who care about children all think not. Yet someone creepy little soul had this to say to yours truly for writing about it:

"Let's be clear here, if anyone is in a position to be sued, it is you. For slander. Most of this post is a lie. Your daughter wasn't running alone. The cross country kids have always been dropped off in a group. She at least started with the other kids. She wasn't on some desolate road. Tom has always dropped the kids off in the same area, and there are TONS of houses along the way."

The person who wrote this comment, or threat, to be more accurate; to me is nothing but a piece of filth. First of all, my daughter was running alone that day. To say anything else is a complete lie. Unfortunately, the intimation that the coach has always dumped the children on various stretches of back road and highway is true; with the twist that it has been in different places. A week earlier, the coach was using Centralia, and the road where he abandoned my daughter is not in Centralia. As for tons of houses in Marshall County Kansas, especially on Route 9, Utah Road, or any of the other side roads in that area, this sender of this comment is either very ignorant or very dishonest. Something that is quite clear on the sender's part is a desire to shut me up so that children in Frankfort may continue to be vulnerable to abuse from strangers or anyone known to them who may drive past, wherever Tom Schroeder has left them. I, like the parents who shocked the school in Michigan by sharing their footage of their son's abusive teacher, will never stop my public discussion of this incident until Frankfort School and USD 380 has publicly denounced this abuse of children, complete with actual, public sanctions against the abuser, and either consolidated with an actual, state run school system and become an actual school, or shut it's doors forever.

What were you really trying to do to my daughter, that day, Tom? Since you did not send me to go find her or pick her up? You also never once called her father, who didn't live in Kansas, and therefore would have done something counterproductive to the way Frankfort High School operates....specifically; he would have called the FBI or the KBI, who would have helped me find my daughter! But what were you really trying to accomplish by leaving her by herself, then keeping her status as lost and missing a complete secret from the police and from me? From the perspective of a person who spent most of her life among real people with real lives, your actions here do not look good. It's why I hate you so much.

Frivolous Threats

"Hello? Clerk of the Circuit Court? I got away with a serious crime against a child several years ago. I did it at the school, where I work. All my friends covered for me, and I still have my job, but the child's mother still hates my guts and won't stop advocating for student safety in Kansas public schools and calling me names! Can I sure her?"

Does that sound totally ridicules to the reader? It seems, kinda, sorta ridicules to the writer, too. It relates to a threat that was sent anonymously to yours truly concerning the initial police reports, complaints to the school board and superintendent of the Vermillion school district of USD 380, all of the letters and correspondence to and from various organizations specializing in child safety in schools, and letters to and from the NCMEC that were drafted after a guidance counselor/cross country coach at Frankfort High School in Kansas "lost" a female freshman student during cross country practice and went home and forgot about her. Most people who read the story understand why it was very, very unsafe for a teacher to remove students from the school and transport them to a rural location with no supervision and leave them to their own devices. Most people who read about the incident are also completely shocked that a teacher would fail to alert a child's parents and law enforcement after losing a child this way. But not Frankfort, Kansas. The good, Christian frankfurters of the teeming metropolis of Frankfort think that the young girl who was abandoned by the teacher was actually at fault for the abuse she suffered, and have rallied around the abuser! Now, in the wake of the revelation that Hailey Owens was kidnapped, ironically by an athletic coach in her Missouri school district, the frankfurters are out in force to try to discourage any discussion of their own dangerously blundering guidance counselor/cross country coach. Here's a recent dumbass comment made by someone desperately in need of a cranial/rectal realignment:

"Let's be clear here, if anyone is in a position to be sued, it is you. For slander. Most of this post is a lie. Your daughter wasn't running alone. The cross country kids have always been dropped off in a group. She at least started with the other kids. She wasn't on some desolate road. Tom has always dropped the kids off in the same area, and there are TONS of houses along the way."

Slander has a very specific legal definition, and making a police report and subsequent complaint to the appropriate organizations upon finding one's self or one's child the victim of a crime does not fall within it's definition. When I first opened my mouth, I was looking for a missing child. The reason my child was missing happened to be the terrible conduct of a teacher I had falsely been led to trust. After she was found, I complained to the superintendent. Then I did research on the subject of missing children, wrote to some very educated experts, and brought the information to a school board meeting. While all this makes the frankfurter guidance counselor/cross country coach look very bad indeed, it is not slander. Somewhere during this course of events, our bumbling coach admitted default. This was related to yours truly by the superintendent, who also related that the coach was "disciplined" for his actions. This admission of default makes a case of slander very difficult for an irresponsible coach to prove. Especially when I still have every letter, document, and piece of correspondence in my possession. Since the "discipline" received by the coach did not include the loss of his job, he incurred no damages over his negligence or my discussion of the same, which brings me to the other part of slander; losses. Unless the creep in question loses something tangible as a result of my reaction to this incident, he has no case against me. I also never signed any agreement guaranteeing my silence, so it is my right to discuss this matter anywhere I choose.

What do you suppose would happen if Coach Dumbass actually tried to take me to court? Do you think I would simply say, "Yes, your honor! I talked about the good coach! I know it's wrong to warn students to be careful, but I love children, so I did it anyways! I know my daughter shouldn't matter more to me than Frankfort's silly-assed little game of politics, but I can't get over loving her as much I loved her when I lived in other places, and when she was born! I concede! I concede!" If you really think I am not going to put on a defense if someone attacks me that way, think again. Seriously. The jury would probably want to know why I am so very pissed off at the school. The court would very likely skip the formality of asking Coach Dumbass if he really did as I've alleged, because he already admitted that he has, and there are witnesses, including, but not limited to my daughter. The fact that everything happened pretty much as I have stated, except that when I initially attempted to map out where my child was abandoned and where the people she and I didn't know found her, I was fuzzy on the details because I was unfamiliar with the area. That's acceptable, and I explained it to everyone involved at the time. Everything I have stated here is true.

How would a jury, and everyone involved in court proceedings feel about hearing that a child had been lost, and Frankfort High School had no personnel willing to make appropriate efforts to find her? (Driving around in one's personal vehicle does NOT constitute appropriate efforts, either, frankfurter!) There may be people within earshot who are mandated reporters of child abuse, and this was certainly abuse. Frankfort School may be sent scrambling, once again, to hide all documents related to this incident while social workers question Coach Dumbass's fitness to be responsible for children. Yippee.

People who have never heard about the whole thing would also hear about it. We all know how important it is for frankfurters to appear wonderful in the eyes of other frankfurters. The coach would have to admit that while he hates the fact that I am pissed off at him and call him names, he has given me ample reason. And this brings me to the last point I am going to make in this post: Tom's only complaint about me is that I am pissed off at him and I call him names. He hasn't lost a damn thing because of anything I have said or done, and therefore; has no case against me. No judge is going to want to listen to a whine from someone like Coach Dumbass that boils down to a desire to make a pissed off parent stop being pissed off at him and calling him names. This would be a classic example of a...........drum roll...........frivolous lawsuit. And if you take a frivolous lawsuit to court in Kansas, you end up responsible for court costs and everyone's legal fees. Just ask Laura McNish.

I'll go ahead and post in the future about some things that should have happened after I made my initial complaints that are not, and never were, slander. I will also delve into some discussion about the claim that there are "tons of houses" in rural Northeast Kansas. Keep in mind that parents who love their children generally do not like schools that employ guidance counselors who "lose" children in unspecified places. It's considered dangerous and uncool. Definitely not the avant-garde among educational professionals.

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.
 

Reason Number One For Consolidation Of Kansas Schools

Kansas never ceases to amaze me with it's stupidity. The public schools in Kansas are not consolidated, which means that each "unified district" has a local school board that is not answerable to state or national standards, or to the state or federal authority, and can force any decision they please on children and parents, be it lawful or not. They can even hire sex offenders and kidnappers if they choose! We now have a Sedgwick County former coach, who was caught in an internet sting, attempting to solicit sex from a fifteen year old, demanding his job as a high school football coach back! Unfortunately, Todd Puetz (it really should be Todd Putz) was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of soliciting sex from a prostitute, and now, since he was not convicted of more serious sex offenses or required to register as a sex offender, his lawyer says he is "entitled" to his job as a high school football coach, and is fighting to somehow force the local school board to engrave him another invitation to endanger children!

Most of us would find this whole request, and the obvious best response......telling Mr. Puetz that he need not apply again.......to be a no brainer. After all, he was fired immediately after his arrest for sex offenses, the local school board did not wait for the trial or the disposition of the charges. As Kansas law does not guarantee a person a job in the event that his services are no longer relevant, and his contract violation(no abusing or molesting children) was proven by his admission of guilt, even though he made a plea in court to a lesser charge, there is a tradition in the unconsolidated, unified school districts of Kansas of covering up the misdeeds of teachers and coaches, and telling the victims to go to hell, because they don't matter. At the other end of the state, in Marshall County, a guidance counselor at Frankfort High still collects taxpayer dollars to endanger children by dropping them off by themselves along highways. The parent who almost had a heart attack over it was told by her local school board that this should not be a cause for concern. If schools in Kansas were consolidated, the laws against child endangerment would need to be followed at each and every public school, and there would be no local school boards protecting political favorites. A thug, such as the guidance counselor in Frankfort, would not be allowed to continue employment in a public school. In fact, the school's insurance should not be allowed to cover this employee any more than an auto insurance policy can be written to cover a driver with fifty DWI's. Child abuse is child abuse, and this guidance counselor committed child abuse and got away with it because Kansas school boards are unsupervised and do not answer to the state. They only answer to themselves. If they do not care about a particular child who has been abused by a teacher, they will generally not lift a finger to stop the abuse. Kudos to the school board who will not offer Todd Puetz his job again. This is an amazing change of pace for Kansas.

Most Kansans fight tooth and nail against consolidation of their schools. Brown v. the Board of Education in 1956 was quite a shock for the quietly prejudiced white population of Kansas, and keeping schools unconsolidated is quite likely a deliberate attempt to continue to keep schools as racially and culturally segregated as possible. Unfortunately, unified districts also have a lot of latitude to violate almost any law when running Kansas schools.

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.