Parent tells Topeka school board detectives questioned students without notifying parents
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
A parent told the board detectives rounded up and questioned students at a high school on Dec. 8 without notifying parents; she says her son was left alone with detectives and later sent home with a warrant and that she has received no follow-up from the district.
At the Topeka Board of Education meeting a parent described a December 8 incident in which detectives questioned a group of students at a high school and, she said, the district failed to notify parents as required.
Tamika Zolikoffi told the board she is the parent of a USD 501 student and described her concern that detectives entered a school, pulled multiple students from class and left one of those students alone with detectives and an administrator. “I wasn't notified prior. I wasn't notified after. I still haven't heard anything,” Zolikoffi said. She said her son was later sent home with a warrant and that other parents she contacted had also not been informed.
Zolikoffi contrasted the experience at that school with an incident she said took place at Eisenhower, where she said staff stopped a student at the door and parents were fully informed before police spoke with the child.
The board did not record a district response in the transcript. Zolikoffi asked the board to confirm whether the district followed its policies and to provide communication to affected families.