The Rochester City School District is under scrutiny after the disappearance and death of 14-year-old student Trevyan Rowe.
Eight hours passed between Trevyan’s disappearance and the 911 call to report him missing.
Rochester School Board members told 13WHAM they do plan to hold district leaders accountable.
“I want a direct answer as to what happened, because we can’t move forward to fix what happened if we don’t know,” said Rochester School Board Commissioner Natalie Sheppard.
Rowe vanished after police say he stepped off of his bus last Thursday, but never made it inside School #12 on South Avenue.
Family members say they did not receive a phone call to report Trevyon’s absence. If true, it would be against the schools operation policy.
“If they would have just called, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation right now,” said Kent Handy, uncle of Trevyan Rowe.
“We really have to pick apart that policy over the whole district and figure out how does that break down building to building,” Commissioner Sheppard said.
Several policies were reviewed as part of a private discussion between the School Board and Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams on Monday.
“There is an action plan to continue to review policies which was already set in motion the day we found out and making sure those policies are capturing all of our students,” Commissioner Sheppard said.
“Lessons learned from this are going to be very important,” said Adam Urbanski, President of the Rochester Teachers’ Union. “Not just to know [the lessons], but to implement.”
The district has ordered an independent investigator to look into the timeline of Rowe’s disappearance.
Story taken from: http://13wham.com/news/local/school-board-members-promise-to-hold-district-accountable-in-rowe-disappearance