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Parent tells board her 7-year-old special-needs son walked off Oliphant Elementary; asks for accountability and protocols
Summary
A parent described two separate incidents in which her 7-year-old son with special needs left Oliphant Elementary unsupervised and walked home; she said the principal was dismissive and that she sought help from assistant superintendent to secure support for her son, and she asked the board to require stricter protocols and accountability.
A Desert Sands Unified parent told trustees Wednesday that her 7-year-old special-needs son twice left Oliphant Elementary without staff supervision and walked home alone, and she urged the board to require clearer protocols and accountability for such incidents.
“He walked over a mile home by himself, and no staff notified myself, my husband, or the police,” the mother, Marcelino, said. She said the family first learned their son had left school when the son’s teacher told the husband who was picking up a sibling; the mother said she then had to call police and file a report. She said this was the second time such an incident had occurred.
Marcelino said she felt excluded from follow-up after the first incident and found the principal’s response dismissive after the second event. She described a conversation with Oliphant Principal Jeff Heskin that she said included a comment to the effect that the principal could not “guarantee the safety of all the children here at the school.”
“I wasn't it wasn't until I contacted assistant superintendent Laura Fisher that I got real action, and I was taken serious,” she told the board. She said Fisher helped arrange for her son to have a student aide after school. Marcelino said she also filed a notice with the Americans with Disabilities Act office to ensure protections for her child.
She asked trustees for three specific steps: that Principal Jeff Heskin face “serious consequences” for repeated negligence, that the district implement or enforce a clear protocol for when a student is lost or leaves campus unsupervised, and that special-needs students receive appropriate supervision and family communication.
Board President Kylie Watson asked staff to follow up. Trustees and staff said they would pursue direct follow-up with the family; at one point a board member instructed staff to get someone to follow up with the parent, and staff acknowledged receiving the request.
The parent’s remarks were made during the public-comment period; trustees did not take immediate disciplinary action on the record during open session but asked staff to report back and address the safety and communication concerns directly with the family.
