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Board reviews proposed changes to student-elopement policy after staff report showing 235 incidents
Summary
General counsel and special-education staff presented proposed amendments to the student-elopement policy to require parent notification for all students and to remove a now-unrequired data-presentation duty; staff reported 235 reported elopements in 2025-26 and said the changes bring policy into compliance with the state education article.
At the July 20 meeting, district legal counsel and special-education staff presented proposed amendments to Board Policy O2-0058-000 (student elopement).
General counsel Lauren Driver said the amendments broaden the policy's definition of "student" so that parents and guardians of all students—regardless of IEP or intervention-plan status—will be notified of attempted or successful elopements as soon as staff become aware (typically the same school day). Driver also said the proposal removes a statutory data-presentation requirement that previously required staff to present counts to the local and state boards; the district will continue to track and maintain the data and make it available under MPIA requests.
Special-education staff presented baseline data for 2025-26: a total of 235 reported elopements (52 elementary, 10 middle, 173 high school), with 163 general-education students and 72 special-education students; 141 incidents involved male students and 94 female students. Staff said this will serve as a baseline year for trend tracking. The proposed amendments will go out for 30 days of public comment and return to the board for a vote after the comment period.
