C-M changes attendance procedures after student exits school
Canon-McMillan School District said it has changed attendance procedures after a sixth-grade student at Cecil Intermediate School was found safe Thursday, hours after he was reported missing from the school.
According to Canon-McMillan Superintendent Dr. Greg Taranto, the student was in homeroom and was marked present for the day.
Taranto said in an email Friday that the school district has procedures to check student attendance for each subsequent class, “but there was a unique set of circumstances which created some confusion about the student’s whereabouts.”
Once the school became aware the student was not in class, the school resource officer conducted a sweep of the building while the principal reviewed video footage and contacted the student’s mother.
After the footage showed the student leaving the building, the school district contacted Cecil Township police, who launched a search for the student and was found in Peters Township near Firehouse Subs, several miles from the school.
On Friday, as a result of the incident, the school district “put in place additional procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future” and reinforced the protocol with all other schools in the district.
Taranto said the safety of the district’s students is its top priority.
“We will continue to review and improve our processes and procedures as necessary,” he said in the statement.