TULLAHOMA, Tenn. (WTVF) — Beth Harrison received a message from her daughter's kindergarten teacher that she never expected.
Harrison got a text message saying her autistic daughter had wandered away from the playground at Robert E. Lee Elementary School and wound up in a neighbor's home down the street. The little girl was gone for nearly half an hour. Her mom wasn't told until the whole thing was over.
"I immediately was mad, scared, angry, terrified and heartbroken," Harrison said. "I immediately called her school principal to set up a time with her to discuss what happened, and how we can prevent it from happening again."
Watch Beth in the player above as she walks through asking the public for help with fencing elementary playgrounds in Tullahoma.
A week after this, Harrison walked to the podium before the Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Aldermen, sharing her story and pleading for fences around all elementary school playgrounds in the city of Tullahoma.
In line behind her was the mother of another student, who went missing during summer school at her elementary school.
"People will be looking to the leadership of this town and this board if and when something tragic happens to one of our students," Harrison told the board. "So let's work together to ensure every child can enjoy the magic of play without the shadow of danger."
A lack of supervision
Harrison said her daughter is bright. She's learned to read. And for a child who doesn't speak, Harrison said she's the loudest kid of her siblings.
As far as her 5-year-old understands, wandering from the playground was simply an adventure. She has nonverbal autism, and as Harrison described, can't perceive dangerous situations — like leaving recess.
Her daughter wandered away at 10:07 a.m., according to the Tullahoma Police Department. They were able to use security cameras to look back at what happened. She was back on the property at 10:30 a.m.
However, for Harrison and her husband, Jeff, the duo are using it to make their child and other children safer. The Harrisons figured out their daughter left the playground, walked through a wooded area and entered into an elderly woman's home. That woman called the school and told them she believed one of their students was inside her house.
The Harrisons said they were grateful their daughter didn't walk in the opposite direction, which is one of the city's busiest roads. At the time this happened, there were 16 children and 10 adults outside on the playground.
"The longer you sit on it, the angrier you get," Jeff said. "This issue could have been resolved with a very rudimentary tool in fencing around the playground. The thing that makes me the angriest is the fact that my wife presented this to the school board, and we don't know what happened to that information."
Up until this past summer, Beth served on the school board. She told board members at a retreat in June that every elementary school playground needed a fence around it to keep kids safe — never imagining what would happen to her child only three months later.
Tullahoma City Schools said it was a "lack of supervision" when it came to what happened to the Harrison family and their child.
But police said the process the school took to find the little girl needs work.
"This is one of those situations that shouldn't have happened," said Chief Chase Sons, over the Tullahoma Police Department. "My biggest concern is you never even notified police."
School employees didn't notify the school resource officer that the child left the campus until 11:45 a.m. when they wanted to look at the security footage.
"The thought in my mind is why didn't you immediately notify the SRO the child went missing?" Sons said. "To the school's credit, they admitted this shouldn't have happened, and they have created a lot of steps to include in their policy that the No. 1 step is to notify the SRO."
In fact, notifying the SRO first is now a new policy for the school district.
"Instead of the office calling the police department about an elopement, the SRO will radio TPD, which will deploy other officers to the school and area," Tullahoma City Schools spokesperson Zach Birdsong said. "We are thankful to have them as they make this process and other safety measures more efficient. Ensuring uniformity in these elopement procedures across the district will also strengthen processes in the event that an SRO is absent and a new officer fills in."
The precedent set for fencing
The Harrison family and the police said they are pushing for collaborative approaches with the school district about what will happen next.
However, both said they got pushback from the district about the fencing idea.
Birdsong said that Tullahoma City Schools haven't made a statement against fencing.
"Student safety is always prioritized in decision-making," Birdsong said. "We evaluate all options when considering safety, potential risk and unintended consequences in any decision for students and families."
Birdsong said they considered and completed a fencing project at another school because of construction on campus.
"With that construction, the school was forced to move its playground area to the front of the school, which is surrounded by a circular roadway. This playground now has a fence, as we as a district felt that the routine risk of students getting harmed is greater day-to-day without a fence in place."
However, police and the Harrison family insist a fence is the safest option for everyone. In a school board meeting Tuesday night, Tullahoma City Schools said the topic will be an ongoing discussion.
"We are not asking for the impossible," Beth Harrison said. "We are asking for a fence to protect our kids. And right now, it seems no concrete action is going to be taken."
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at emily.west@newschannel5.com.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
