It’s no doubt. A parent’s worst nightmare is to find out that their child is missing.
Parents of missing Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar, 15, who attends Sobrato High School, were notified like every other parent in the high school in the Morgan Hill Unified School District that she did not show up to school through an automated system about 6 p.m. March 16. She was reported missing at 6:30 p.m., about 11 hours after her last contact with a friend through a text sent at 7:11 a.m. that morning.
MHUSD has two systems currently in place to notify parents of an absence at the high school level: an automated voice call that goes out about 6 p.m. and a system called the Home Access Center.
The Home Access Center is a website where parents can log on online and see in real-time if they’re child did or did not show up to a class that day. They can see, for example, if their child cut class during fifth period, or check on their grades. The system can also notify them by email in real-time.
Parents and grandparents waiting for their Sobrato students Friday afternoon weighed in on the current systems.
“I never really thought about it,” said parent Sumeth Khau, who was waiting for his freshman daughter Allison. “It’s not something you really think about, until something happens.”
He said that he would like to see a notification system alert parents a little bit earlier. Grandmother Tomie, who did not want to give her last name, has a 16-year-old granddaughter at Sobrato. Although she said her granddaughter regularly attends school and doesn’t skip class, she too agreed that a notification system before 6 p.m. would be beneficial.
“After what happened with the girl, parents should know sooner, not at the end of the day,” she said.
Superintendent Wes Smith said he is concerned about what some community members are saying about their interest in the level of communication from the district.
“We are looking, as we are always are looking, to improve our efficiency and effectiveness,” said Smith. “Every year we analyze what can be better to continuously improve.”
He said that one possibility could be adding text message notifications in real-time that parents can opt for, similar to the current email notifications parents can receive through the Home Access Center.
“We’re not going to do anything until we work with our parents to make sure that this is something that they want,” said Smith.
Smith emphasized that the systems in place are for parent notification and verification of absences. “They have no other intent,” he said.
“We want to reach the parents with that information so that they can get that in their hands and act accordingly and appropriately. While this may have other benefits, they are unintended benefits,” said Smith.
School board trustee Claudia Rossi said it is common practice not only for MHUSD to send out an automated message during the evening, but for other districts as well.
“I think, that in a crisis, for example the situation with the missing student, every situation calls for people to examine how can we better serve our community given the information that we have now,” said Rossi.
Smith said notifications go out about 6 p.m. because they want parents to be home to receive the message. There is a possibility for example, for a student to delete a message that notified parents that he/she was not at school that day prior to the parent receiving that message.
He mentioned that in the past two weeks, the district has received phone calls from several parents asking to be removed from the automated system for phone calls in the evening, because they know if they’re child is home sick.
According to Sobrato Principal Debbie Padilla, parents have three days to clear an absence and most will call in the evening or the day after the student has missed school. The school on average receives about 115 daily absences, of an average 1,600 total students, not including students who cut a class period.
