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Parker School Loses Track Of 1st Grader Twice

Parker Family
Bronson and Keli Bowman and their son Jace (credit: CBS)

PARKER, Colo. (CBS4) - Parents of a Parker 1st grader are upset with the Douglas County School District after their child walked away from his elementary school two different times.

Last year Bronson and Keli Bowman' son Jace, 6, disappeared for an hour after boarding the wrong bus at Cherokee Trail Elementary School. On Monday Jace vanished again.

"This is the second time it has happened. We cannot trust these people anymore," Bronson Bowman said.

When Keli arrived to pick up her son from the school's afterschool program, employeees told her they didn't know where he was.

"'We can't find him.' That's the response I got. No sense of urgency. It was like I had lost a purse, not a child," she told CBS4.

Jace told CBS4 he left because he "wanted to go home and get my brother."

He ended up walking down busy Jordan Road and Parker police picked him up a mile away after receiving several calls from motorists.

Keli learned of her son's location after calling 911.

Officials with the school district said in a statement "Both the principal and school leadership have met with parents to ensure this type of event never happens again. As always student safety is a primary concern."

Keli says she left that meeting unconvinced.

"The meeting we had this morning was damage control," Keli said on Tuesday. "How many times are we going to get lucky before we're not lucky anymore and we never see our child again."

Bronson said he's hoping that changing their story will lead to changes in school safety.

"People need to be more aware of what's going on in these schools, because it doesn't just affect our child, it affects every child," he said.

District officials said they have hired more teachers and recruited more volunteers to keep a closer eye on students.

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