School personnel always say to parents "why don’t you trust us !" Well a prime example of why parents do not trust schools occurred in Baltimore, when a child with special needs eloped from school and went missing for days. The school did not even have the sense or the decency to call the parents. The parents had requested an aide to be with child because of prior elopement episodes, but were refused.
Will the school personnel be brought up on charges of child endangerment ? Not likely in my direct experience with a case I handled several years ago, where a client-child eloped from school and nearly died in a nearby river. The local State’s attorney and Attorney General did not have the backbone to take a stand against school personnel. Until school personnel are made to understand that they have real and meaningful responsibility for student’s safety, not to mention an appropriate education, callous and even cruel disregard of parents and students will continue without any real consequence.