MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Shelby County School parent is concerned about the safety of the sign-out procedure at her son’s elementary school.
“I just hate for something terrible to happen, and I never get my son back,” said parent Laquecia Shaffer.
She said Oakhaven Elementary let two people sign her child out of school without her permission.
The first time was back in November.
A police report said a woman called the school, saying she was Shaffer, and needed to sign her son out of school.
“She said that she was myself and that she sprung her ankle, that she couldn’t come in and show her ID to check my son out, and that’s what the school did,” Shaffer said.
Police found the boy, walking in his mother’s neighborhood later that evening. He told an officer a relative’s girlfriend picked him up.
Shaffer said that after the first incident, she asked the school to put the policy and procedure for checking her son out of school in writing.
“From the first incident, I set up a passcode. No one is to pick him up without knowing this particular passcode,” Shaffer said.
That apparently was not enough.
On Friday, Shaffer said someone, who reportedly does not have the passcode, signed her son out again.
“For it to happen again is just really frustrating. It’s a headache, because I just don’t feel like my son is safe there,” she said.
SCS said this, regarding the oversight:
“Our schools work very hard to adhere to all policies and laws regarding child custody. While strict processes are in place at Oakhaven Elementary, this incident unfortunately occurred while a temporary employee was covering front office duties. Upon notification, the school immediately conducted a review of all student check-out procedures and made necessary adjustments to ensure this type of situation does not happen again.”
“I just want to make sure something gets done about that, so it won’t happen to my son or any other students at Oakhaven Elementary,” Shaffer said.
She filed police reports for both incidents.