A Carter & MacRae Elementary School parent is considering sending her daughter to a new school after she was able to exit the building and travel half a mile through Lancaster city as she attempted to go home.
Allaura Eby’s daughter has autism. It was the second time her daughter left school without permission or supervision.
“I’m happy that my daughter was safe, but I’m not happy that things happened the way they did,” Eby said Friday.
Aside from the two escapes Eby’s daughter, Gyanna Gray, made into the city – once in January and once last week – Eby said she has received nearly 10 calls from the school this school year notifying her that Gyanna left her classroom and was found elsewhere in Carter & MacRae unsupervised.
Eby hopes to secure Gyanna a spot at New Story in Mountville, a school specializing in autistic support for students in grades K-12. If the district is found to have failed in meeting the needs of a special needs student specified in an individualized education program, it could be required to pay Gyanna’s tuition at New Story.
School District of Lancaster spokesperson Adam Aurand said that following Gyanna’s escape from Carter & MacRae May 7, the school reviewed and updated her safety plan to include additional support and monitoring. He said the school has remained in close communication with Gyanna’s family, though Eby said she has not met with staff since Monday.
“The safety of all students – particularly those with specialized needs — remains our highest priority,” Aurand wrote in a statement Friday. “All district schools, including Carter & MacRae, have reviewed their safety protocols this year. We will continue to evaluate and strengthen our elopement prevention measures to help ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, while recognizing that these situations require ongoing attention and refinement.”
Gyanna is not the only student who has been able to run off campus this year. Two district employees were put on administrative leave in February after an 11-year-old boy with autism was found several blocks from Fulton Elementary School. The boy’s mother, Nelly Emory, took him and her youngest child out of the school afterward.
Emory said her son had escaped from his former elementary school, Smith-Wade-El, four times before and she was notified well after the fact.
Escaping supervision
Eby said Gyanna is anxious about attending school, and while she said she has tried to encourage her daughter that teachers are trying to help her learn, the girl has continued to try to leave school to go home during the day.
Running away from supervised areas, like a school classroom, is common among students with special needs, according to Laurie VanderPloeg, associate executive director for professional affairs at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).
The CEC, based in Arlington, Virginia, is the largest international professional organization advocating for appropriate governmental policies and professional standards for children and youth with disabilities.
VanderPloeg previously served as director of the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education and a director of special education at an intermediate school in Michigan.
A student at risk of escaping supervision should be in an adult’s line of sight at all times, VanderPloeg said. She suggested designating one paraeducator, a school employee who commonly works alongside certified teachers to provide support to the child.
A parent can have that kind of attention to their child written into their individualized education program, VanderPloeg said.
“The challenge becomes ensuring that the staff are aware and that they’re watching that student at all times,” VanderPloeg said.
After Gyanna’s first time leaving Carter & MacRae unsupervised, Eby said school officials told her they would keep an employee with Gyanna during transition times, like when she is heading to her next class or moving from lunch to recess.
Gyanna’s escape went unnoticed in January, Eby said, and was not noticed until her older daughter arrived from Reynolds Middle School to pick Gyanna up. While Eby said she received contradicting stories from Gyanna’s teacher and her school’s principal, they all agree the incident happened during a time of transition – dismissal time.
Earlier this month, Gyanna left the school around lunch time – another time Eby said her daughter was supposed to be closely supervised. Now, Eby said the plan has been adapted to have someone by her side at all times.
“I’m not frustrated or angry with anybody in particular, it’s more the school as a whole,” Eby said. “I’m just upset because when a child has an (individualized education program), every staff member is supposed to know about that child’s (program) and what it is.”
VanderPloeg said there are usually confidentiality rules surrounding a student’s individualized education program, but there is an exception on aspects of the plan that everyone needs to know, especially when safety is involved.
“Custodians, if they see the student running down the hallway, should understand what is their responsibility from an intervention perspective,” VanderPloeg said.
Putting protections in place
Schools should also be working on ways to prevent the student from escaping, VanderPloeg said, like developing a behavior intervention plan. Depending on the student’s cognitive ability, that could involve teaching them that there is another safe location to go to instead of leaving unsupervised.
“It’s not just a matter of how are we accommodating the situation … for me one of the more important pieces is the teachable component for the student,” VanderPloeg said.
Eby said her daughter is not usually aware how dangerous it is for her to be leaving school unsupervised, but once Gyanna saw her escape covered by WGAL, she apologized.
Eby has been looking to hire a behavioral health technician through her insurance provider, who could provide one-on-one support to her daughter in school and at home. She said she would also pay for her daughter to attend New Story if necessary.
“I will do whatever I have to do to make sure my daughter is happy and safe,” Eby said. “It does suck a little bit, because I am a single mother, I am a one-income household so money’s tight.”
Money is tight for the School District of Lancaster too, which also concerns Eby; she said she is unsure the district will have enough staff to keep a close eye on Gyanna.
The district’s board plans to approve a 4.7% real estate tax hike to help erase a $36.3 million deficit. Earlier this month, the board voted to eliminate 92 staff positions – which involved laying off or furloughing 40 employees.
Despite the district’s fiscal problems, it has committed $1 million in the 2026-27 budget to hire eight special education consultants – one for each school. The consultants would coach staff on safety and crisis plans and act as part of each school’s building response team to provide deescalation support, according to a draft of the consultant job description.
When informed of the district’s budgetary challenges, VanderPloeg said the district should consider the costs if something bad happens to a child like Gyanna.
“If the district fails to put a plan in place, their liability is going to be tenfold,” she said. “The district has a responsibility to put protections in place.”
