Parents tell board their Easton Area High School freshman has been missing 74 days, allege multiple school safety failures

John Germen and his wife, Jade Wu, identified themselves during public comment as the parents of Aubrey Wu, an Easton Area High School freshman who they said had been missing for 74 days. They told the board the family has reported a series of incidents and what they described as failures by school staff to protect and inform them.

In a detailed public statement Germen said his daughter had used a social/chat site (named in the meeting as meetyou.me) on a district‑issued iPad and, according to the parents’ account, made contact with an adult who later met the student at a bus stop and provided contraband. Germen said that within a week of the first meeting the adult allegedly escalated to a criminal assault in a shopping‑plaza parking lot. The parents said they notified school officials, guidance staff, the Palmer Police Department and Pennsylvania Child and Youth Services and that the school indicated it would ‘‘handle the matter.’’

The parents told the board they later learned the high‑school principal had interviewed their daughter alone in mid‑December about a compromising photo that had circulated among students; the principal, the parents said, told them he believed the image was an AI fabrication and did not notify the parents. Germen said the principal had earlier contacted the family about a separate bullying matter and that the family’s trust in the principal’s diligence led them not to escalate other concerns at the time.

Germen said the family was not informed about a referral that had been submitted to authorities before the student disappeared on Jan. 10. He said the district did not issue community notifications and that two members of Easton City Council helped prompt an alert to parents after several weeks. The parents said they repeatedly requested flyers, a community forum and communications to students and families; they said those requests were denied or not acted on.

The parents identified a string of specific grievances: they said a school security guard had allowed an adult to take their daughter from the middle‑school front door; that staff did not adequately inform or protect students after apparent compromise of an image; and that the district failed to notify them in a timely manner about incidents involving their daughter. They said they will seek both criminal and civil accountability.

The board did not hold a discussion or provide a substantive response during the meeting; the board president interrupted to manage the public‑comment time limit but did not otherwise record a district response in the transcript. The parents said they remain engaged with law enforcement and child‑protective services.