Schools

Marshall: Northmont School Acted Properly in Release of Boy to Mom

Schools chief says school had no record of custody issues involving 5-year-old taken to airport.

Northmont Elementary School officials broke no district rules in releasing a 5-year-old boy to his mother—who later was intercepted Wednesday afternoon at Lindbergh Field by La Mesa police with a court order barring her from taking the child on a flight to Kentucky, according to district officials.

“The mother was a custodial parent, according to school records,” Brian Marshall, superintendent of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, said via email  Thursday morning.  “Any custodial parent has the right to pick their child up from school.”

Marshall said he learned of the incident when contacted by La Mesa Patch about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

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“Shortly after that notification,” he said,  “I spoke to Northmont School and was fully briefed.” The principal at Northmont is Melody Belcher.

The child’s father contacted the La Mesa Police Department, saying the mother had tickets for a Southwest Airlines flight but had not yet been served with a court order barring her from taking the boy out of state.  The police served the order at the airport, and the mother willingly gave up her son to the father.

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Did the father take the proper steps in this instance?

Marshall responded: “It is important for parents to keep the school informed as to any custodial issues and to provide the school with any legal documents pertaining to child custody.  In this case, the school did not have any documents that changed custody of the student.”

Marshall said the district has several custody issues each year, and “our goal is to remain a neutral third party who supports the child and his/her learning.  When there are disagreements regarding custody between parents, we always refer these issues to the courts or local police.”

Because Northmont hadn’t been notified of the court order—or any change in custody—school officials acted properly, Marshall said.

“There were no procedural errors,” he said. 


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