RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Fortunately unharmed, Dominick Agonoy, 5, left front, joined father Dominador, mother Linda and brother Jason Reid, 4, yesterday at their residence in Salt Lake. Dominick left school at recess Tuesday and walked to his grandmother's house.
Frantic hour brings Salt Lake Elementary School is reviewing its supervision of students and security procedures after a 5-year-old kindergarten student walked off the campus and was missing for more than an hour on Tuesday.
review of school rules
Salt Lake Elementary
let a kindergartner
go missing at recessBy Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com"The school is taking the incident very seriously," said Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen. "It is certainly an issue that is generating a reaction and some thoughtful planning. The safety of our children is definitely a priority for all of our schools."
Dominick Agonoy left the school at 1131 Ala Lilikoi St. during recess around 10 a.m. and walked to his grandparents' Salt Lake house, a mile and a half away. His grandmother called the kindergartner's mother, Linda Agonoy, saying Dominick had come to her Salt Lake home, shaking and crying.
Linda Agonoy said yesterday she was outraged because school personnel were searching for her son but failed to inform her he was missing. She learned of her son's whereabouts when her mother called at 11:15 a.m. Agonoy said she called the school at 11:30 a.m.
"For an hour and a half, they did not know where my son was," Agonoy said. "They had no clue. Luckily, no harm to my son and he wasn't molested. I'm shocked at how they handled everything."
Knudsen acknowledged the delay in informing the child's parents and said the school is discussing its notification procedures if such an incident happens again. He said the incident was not a security matter, but one of supervision. However, the incident has raised security concerns, he said.
The school is examining the roles of yard-duty teachers and the possibility of school staff, including custodians and office staff, helping supervise children during recess, and before and after school, Knudsen said.
Principal Duwayne Abe planned to visit kindergarten and first-grade classrooms this week to stress the importance of not leaving campus during school hours, said Knudsen, who noted that parents should stress the same message.
Dominick told his mother that he accidentally bumped a boy while running and apologized. "He said, 'I thought the teacher was going to get mad at me. I didn't want to get in trouble, so I ran home,'" she said.
Abe has asked the parent-teacher association for assistance with security and is seeking other volunteers, Knudsen said. "Otherwise, it's a cost item that may be harder to come by," Knudsen said.
Agonoy, meanwhile, said she wants all elementary schools to be gated and guarded by security officers. "I can understand the front gates need to be open, but the ones on the side during school hours should be locked and gated so no adults could come on campus," she said.
The school is considering installing a gate at an opening on Ala Lilikoi Place.
According to Agonoy, the principal did not apologize to her but said there was no excuse for what happened and that five fifth- and sixth-graders were monitoring younger students during lunch and recess. Knudsen said the school regrets the incident.
Abe did not return calls to the Star-Bulletin yesterday.
Agonoy told her son that if he feels he needs to go home to call either her, his dad or his grandparents. She also told him: "'Do not ever do that again. Next time, you might not be that lucky. A person might come and grab you, and you won't see Mommy and Daddy no more.'"
State Department of Education
