By Chelsea Laskowski

Communication a concern for parents after alleged abduction attempt

Sep 26, 2013 | 12:11 PM

There was only one report and little detail about a vehicle that was reportedly trying to pick up students a few weeks ago.

Prince Albert police sent out news releases when a situation is deemed high-risk. After sweeping the neighbourhood without any luck after the report on Sept. 13, they made a judgment call.

That's why police didn't contact Turgeon Catholic Community School or next-door John Diefenbaker School about the situation.

But Diefenbaker's principal sent a letter home with students once they found out while Turgeon did not.

Parents of students at Turgeon expressed concern with the lack of communication.

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“I was rather upset that we didn’t know about it to begin with,” said Hernando Sagardia, who has a nine-year-old son.

There were several reasons parents at Turgeon weren’t sent a letter.

First was the lack of a news release from police.

The school division has trust in the police force’s assessment of risk, said Lorel Trumier, director of education with the Prince Albert Catholic School Division.

“I’m confident in what the police service would have done in that particular incident. If there would have been an elevated risk we would have heard about it, we would have dealt with it.”

Secondly, the principal at John Diefenbaker sent out the letter near the end of the day on Sept. 16, according to Robert Bratvold, director of education for Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division.

As a result, the two schools which are separated by the playgrounds and a field did not communicate directly until the following day.

“Maybe we could have done that right away and said, instead of the next day going down there and sending the vice principal over to talk it over, we could have picked up the phone to let them know right then,” said Bratvold.

However, he added they didn’t want to undermine police judgment that the situation wasn’t urgent.

Many parents of student at Turgeon have expressed they would like to have known directly rather than hearing through word of mouth.

“Even if it’s just a simple note in one of the kid’s agendas, even that would be helpful,” said Sagardia.

While he had previously spoken to his children about ‘stranger danger,’ he added he worries other parents may not have and their children could be at risk.

“I’m not really afraid that my son would be one of the victims, but I’m afraid for others that may be not as instructed as to what to do.”

Trumier and Bratvold insist the two school divisions frequently communicate with each other.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk