I just put this in a comment on another thread, but I felt an urge to create an article for it – for no other reason than to keep little Kyron’s name at the top where it belongs. I want to revisit the lack of reporting to the family about Kyron’s absence from school on June 4th, the day he disappeared from the face of the Earth.
Before Roll Call
I think the main thing we should keep in mind as we discuss the issues surrounding Kyron’s absence and the lack of reporting back to the Horman family is that nothing we’ve heard so far concerning it has been confirmed except that he was marked absent. I believe Mr. Shelby, spokesman for the Portland school system is the one that confirmed Ms. Porter, Kyron’s second grade teacher, marked Kyron absent that morning.
According to what we’ve been told, it appears roll call for classes did not take place until 10:00 a.m. The school was open to family and students at 8:00 a.m. so they could tour the science fair together. Classes appear to have UNOFFICIALLY convened late at 9:00 a.m. so that the classes could be split into small groups of students led by chaperones to view the science fair. As a parent, I have to say I would be wondering why children were not accounted for at this time and prior to the science fair tour. And while I have found no official statement of exactly when roll call was made, the unofficial statements state roll call was not performed until 10:00 a.m. when the small groups completed touring the science fair.
Reports state that Kyron and Terri went to his classroom first and left his backpack and jacket in the room before touring the science fair. One account has the backpack and jacket left on top of his desk, another account has it hung in a locker/cubby space along the wall.
The Doctor’s Appointment
There are two versions of the alleged statement made by Terri Horman to Ms. Porter. Both unconfirmed by law enforcement.
1. Ms. Porter is claimed to have stated Terri Horman told her “in a crowded auditorium” on the morning of Friday June 4th that Kyron had a doctor’s appointment that day.
2. Jaymie Finster, friend of Terri Horman, states Terri told her that she told Ms. Porter of the doctor’s appointment when she was at the school on Thursday June 3rd and that the appointment was not until Friday June 11th. Jamie states Terri says she gave Ms. Porter paperwork associated with that doctor’s appointment. As I have stated in previous articles, the science fair projects appear to have been set up prior to 8:00 a.m. Friday morning, so Terri being there the day before would make sense if she needed to deliver the project early so that Kyron could get it set up. As I’ve also stated, the entire doctor’s appointment issue is a CONCRETE issue. In other words, there either was a doctor’s appointment or there wasn’t. It either was on June 11th, or it wasn’t. And there either is paperwork at that school or there isn’t. With the concrete, verifiable statements made by Terri Horman, her story is either true or false and can be confirmed as such…no wiggle room.
Roll Call
It is reported that at 10:00 a.m. the teachers took roll call for their classes. Ms. Porter is reported to have marked Kyron absent at this time. Now, here is where I have been confused for some time. The teacher’s responsibility is to account for the presence or absence of a child. The teacher’s responsibility during roll call is not to account for where that child is, only to account for if they are present. As I stated in prior comment, I’m 46 years old and I attended an extremely small school. The school system I was in had less that 700 kids for all grades K through 12th grade. The town had less than 2000 people total. Even in this small (ancient…lol) school system, the same procedure was in place as was in place for every school my two children attended whether they were in elementary school, middle school or high school, and no matter how small or big the school (some of which were huge metropolitan schools). The teacher is required to submit the absences to the central office of the school. Why? Because it is the central office’s responsibility to account for WHERE the child is.
So, if Ms. Porter marked Kyron absent at 10:00 a.m., why didn’t the Central office of Skyline Elementary call Kyron’s parents to confirm where he was? Please note that Mr. Shelby has stated some smoke and mirror nonsense about this not happening because Skyline wasn’t using the “automated call system”. Hogwash. Please keep in mind that Kyron came up missing on Skyline’s watch. Mr. Shelby has a conflict of interest. He is acting as spokesman for the school system. The same one that didn’t call Kyron’s parents when he was marked absent. That Mr. Shelby would use such a lame excuse is a flag to me. This is a transparent attempt to try to excuse why protocol was not followed. It also does not logically fit with other information we have been given, such as:
- Skyline Elementary is a small school.
- Skyline Elementary does not have a truancy problem.
The above two factoids make Mr. Shelby’s excuse for why Kyron’s parents weren’t contacted fall apart. A low number of children to account for, and a low absentee rate mean the central office didn’t even need an automated call system. It’s called picking up the phone and dialing the number. And it apparently did not happen.
So let’s look at this lack of reporting to the parents and see what logical explanations could lead to no phone call home (leaving behind the ludicrous excuse of no automated phone call):
- Skyline Elementary School central office was negligent and simply didn’t take the time to report and verify Kyron’s absence, or
- Ms. Porter did not report Kyron’s absence to the central office, or
- Terri Horman told the central office Kyron was going to the doctor, or
- Ms. Porter supplied paperwork from Terri Horman showing Kyron would be at the doctor that day, or
- The central office only had the landline number to the Horman household AND there is no voicemail system on that number AND Terri wasn’t home so they were unable to reach a parent. This would require that the school not have a cell number for either Terri or Kaine (don’t know about you but I always gave my cell, once I had one, as my primary number to ensure they could get me no matter where I was), and didn’t have Kaine’s work number. That’s a lot of didn’ts to get in to make that make sense.
Those really are the only excuses for the central office not calling the Hormans to check on Kyron’s absence. We can rule out that the school DID attempt to contact the Horman residence because of the vacuous excuse Mr. Shelby gave…at least I can and still feel comfortable about it.
Valhall.
Related posts:
- Kyron Horman case: Terri neglected the Kyron factor
- Kyron Horman case: The pickup
- Kyron Horman case: Interviews and searches continue
- Kyron Horman case: Will Terri’s lies be what trap her?
- Kyron Horman case: Initial timeline for June 4th
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