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Parents demand independent safety audit and accountability after kindergarten student wandered off
Summary
Parents at the Dec. 16 Saugus Union School District board meeting urged immediate reforms after a 5‑year‑old left North Park campus in November; speakers called for an independent district‑wide safety audit, a formal missing‑student protocol and named district staff they said should face accountability.
Parents and community members pressed the Saugus Union School District governing board on Dec. 16 for immediate steps after a Nov. 4 incident in which a 5‑year‑old left North Park Elementary and was later found more than a mile away.
Natalie Epstein, identified in public comment as the boy’s mother, said the district’s initial communication to families misrepresented the incident. “That message was a blatant lie. My son was not walking home,” Epstein said, and asked the board to stop minimizing the event and to provide honest answers. She called for “an independent safety audit of all district campuses and after‑school programs with findings and concrete actions made public,” and for a district‑wide emergency protocol requiring mandatory reporting to law enforcement and state licensing agencies.
Emily Veldkamp, who introduced herself as the mother of two North Park students, urged the board to adopt immediate changes including a “district wide emergency protocol for missing students, including mandatory reporting to law enforcement and state licensing agencies.” Several other speakers described long‑standing concerns about campus procedures and the gate supervision at North Park.
Board members and staff did not take any formal disciplinary action during the meeting. Superintendent Dr. Hawkins appeared during district reports and said she and other staff would continue working with city representatives about property issues and other matters but did not announce an independent audit at the meeting.
The public comments also put the safety issue in the larger context of district staffing and behavior‑management challenges. Union leaders and teachers described rising workplace stress and called for more supports for both students and staff.
What happens next: Parents asked the board to commission an independent safety audit, adopt a formal missing‑student protocol and publicly release findings and timelines for corrective action. The board did not adopt those specific measures at the Dec. 16 meeting; trustees said staff would follow up and that conversation would continue in future meetings.
