Does Skyline school bear any responsibility?

[gwenabob]

Gwenabob after seeing your pics a perp could easily hide and not be seen. Especially the access road and the steep enbankment are so secluded. The pic that creeped me out the most was the one you took through the door at the stairs. I think a child could easily go out that door and not be seen.

Yep. Right out the door, down the stairs, along the paved path, and out the access road to a waiting vehicle. Nobody would notice a thing.

 

[mistivon]

wow, thank you.

 

[CaringCitizen]

http://s780.photobucket.com/albums/yy81/gwenabob/Sauvie Island/

Gwenabob Thank You so much for these pictures.

Go Gwenabob - great job on the photos!! KUDOS. Wish I could do a Goodie Award on this one. WOW.

 

[RoughlyCollie]

Yep. Right out the door, down the stairs, along the paved path, and out the access road to a waiting vehicle. Nobody would notice a thing.

Thank you so much for taking and posting all those pictures.

It frightened me half to death to see how easily anyone could have taken Kyron (or another child) away with no one noticing it.

 

[78gidget78]

curiouser and curiouser, now i'm really wondering if all the questions about the truck may be trying to figure out if someone saw that truck near the school but NOT in the parking lot, maybe like that little access path or something

MOO

 

[Hephaestus]

"Of interest to me:

Skyline is a candidate school for the IB PYP and MYP Programmes. 29.6% (87 of 294) of Skyline's student body is made up of transfers."

Can you explain why this is of interest to you and whether you interpret this to mean simply "overflow" transfers or "behavioral" transfers?

thx

 

[Wise Old Owl]

I posted about a week ago in the thread about "how would you get yourself and a child out of the school" about this access road that the distance between it and that side door (right at the end of his classroom).

Teaching as many years as I have and having to move in and out of classrooms - you always find the "closest" way to get your vehicle to the classroom. I'm willing to bet TH knew about that access road and has used that road to get to that side door to bring stuff up to the classroom. She had volunteered in the room and I'm sure has trucked stuff in and out of there during the year. With Kyron being her child - he knew she knew that way as well - he would ride with her.

Wouldn't be hard to make sure he left something in the truck (or he actually did leave something behind) and when he's getting ready to go to class remembers - TH tells him - go down those stairs and "run out to the truck" and get what ever it is.

Seeing gewnabob's pics just cemented my thoughts on this. Whoever took Kyron - he went out that side door and down to that access road. It was really spooky looking at those pics and seeing how well concealed it all would have been.

 

[gwenabob]

"Of interest to me:

Skyline is a candidate school for the IB PYP and MYP Programmes. 29.6% (87 of 294) of Skyline's student body is made up of transfers."

Can you explain why this is of interest to you and whether you interpret this to mean simply "overflow" transfers or "behavioral" transfers?

thx

I am not sure who you are quoting, but I may be able to answer the question about transfers.


For the last 20-30 years, PPS has been very liberal about allowing transfers between school boundaries within the PPS school district. Since more students at a school means more money to that school which means more programs and extras, schools spend a lot of time and energy "marketing" themselves to parents. They have open houses and try to get more people to transfer into their school. This means parents might end up driving all the way across town to get their kid into a "better" school than their neighborhood school. That, of course, means fewer children in certain neighborhood schools which are considered to be "lesser" schools, which means less funding, which means they get even worse. An endless spiral.

The PPS leaders realize this is not a good system and are working to limit transfers out of neighborhood schools so that ALL neighborhood schools have equal funding and equality in programs.

So, after that long explanation, the probable reason nearly 30% of the students are transferred in is because their parents asked for the transfer under the belief that Skyline is superior to the neighborhood school they are leaving behind.

Hope that helps.

 

[scandi]

Thanks so much Gwenabob for going to all the work to take the photos and then assemble the slide show. It is well appreciated by all of us.

One thing I took away from that is how much area the school encompasses. Much more than the average grade school in the metro Portland area. Kids have a lot more room to run and do projects than the average grade school child. Of course the adjoining fields with the trees behind probably add to the dimension effect.

That side door by the parking lot that STEADFAST first pointed out to us. Do you think a car could park there and then say 45 min or so arrange for a pickup of your child without being really noticed?

IMO that could be the way he was taken, and if the bell had just sounded for class there would be no one in the halls to notice a child there. Ta

 

[gwenabob]

Thanks so much Gwenabob for going to all the work to take the photos and then assemble the slide show. It is well appreciated by all of us.

One thing I took away from that is how much area the school encompasses. Much more than the average grade school in the metro Portland area. Kids have a lot more room to run and do projects than the average grade school child. Of course the adjoining fields with the trees behind probably add to the dimension effect.

That side door by the parking lot that STEADFAST first pointed out to us. Do you think a car could park there and then say 45 min or so arrange for a pickup of your child without being really noticed?

IMO that could be the way he was taken, and if the bell had just sounded for class there would be no one in the halls to notice a child there. Ta

It would be possible, but I think the door on the opposite side--just under his classroom by the soccer field--would be easier to get out of. The exit is more hidden from the main hall, and a kid could run down the stair onto the path under the slope and run to the road without being seen by anyone in the school.

 

[RoughlyCollie]

Seeing gewnabob's pics just cemented my thoughts on this. Whoever took Kyron - he went out that side door and down to that access road. It was really spooky looking at those pics and seeing how well concealed it all would have been.

Gee, if I were LE, I'd be emotionally involved and upset as h-e-double toothpicks after seeing that entire scene in person. First, the easy escape route, then the pond, then all those buildings, plenty of places to get lost in the vicinity ... it's a nightmare over there in terms of keeping kids safe.

Of course, the nightmare is in hindsight. I doubt I'd have seen it that way before Kyron disappeared -- mostly I'd be worried about ticks in all that tall grass.

If I were the parent of a child there, and knew what the surroundings were like, I'd be alarmed no matter what LE said.

If I had kids in elementary school, I'd hustle my behind over there to see if there were any gaps in security coverage similar to this one. Two of mine go to a public high school, and I may do that, too.

PS The "public" part isn't the important thing in the above paragraph -- it's just that two of my kids are still homeschooled.

 

[Cher352]

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t166/ubrmel/KYRON/Maps KYRON/

Thanks Ruby this gives such a better view of the way the inside is laid out!

Now anyone remember what is classroom number was, where he was last seen at and where was that project on electricity that Kryon was going to see.

 

[Sounder]

Gwenabob, pics are great...

When you were there, regarding the chain across the access road, is it easily unhooked or some lock and bolt?

 

[RandomThoughts]

Great pics Gwenabob! The stairs from the back playground and the mechanical room door I found to be highly creepy.

 

[Chili Fries]

Awesome find.

Kyron's class was classroom 213, on the left side of the main floor (which it seems is also called the second floor by people at the school). This floor plan also answers the question of whether there is an exit onto the parking lot on the other side of the school, the right side, from the main floor. There is an exit, down one flight of stairs and rfight out into the parking lot.

So...it looks like TH claims the last time she saw Kyron she was near the parking lot exit steps, looked back and saw him at the far end of the school near his classroom.

 

[miabellamoure]

Many thank you's to RubyRed & Gwenabob for bringing all of us a little bit closer to what things really look like there!

Omg...the two of you could form a team...lol...just sayin'!:woohoo:

 

[debirlfan]

Looks to me like a couple dumpsters out back. Anyone know when those are dumped?

 

[gwenabob]

Gwenabob, pics are great...

When you were there, regarding the chain across the access road, is it easily unhooked or some lock and bolt?

Good question. I didn't even look! I guess I felt the road up to that chain was the interesting part. Even if the chain could easily be undone, a car would be better hidden by not going past the chain.

 

[gwenabob]

Awesome find.

Kyron's class was classroom 213, on the left side of the main floor (which it seems is also called the second floor by people at the school). This floor plan also answers the question of whether there is an exit onto the parking lot on the other side of the school, the right side, from the main floor. There is an exit, down one flight of stairs and rfight out into the parking lot.

So...it looks like TH claims the last time she saw Kyron she was near the parking lot exit steps, looked back and saw him at the far end of the school near his classroom.

Well, the front, original part of the school has two floors. Kyron's classroom was on the second floor. The main entrance and the side entrances open to the second floor. Since the school is built against a hill, the first floor is more like a daylight basement.


ETA: When you go in the building, you have to take stairs either way--either up or down, like split level house. However, I could not see where the stairs are to go to the basement.

 

[T-Rex]

Don't know if Kyron's school was the same as mine, but visiting the classroom of a higher grade could take him to an area he'd never been to before. Out of his comfort zone--so he'd be more open to someone offering directions.