Regina Public Schools responds after non-verbal boy’s disappearance sparked five-hour search

The chair of the Regina Board of Education said an investigation is under way after the disappearance of an 8-year-old boy last month.

The boy’s departure from the school led to a five-hour police search of north Regina neighbourhoods and his eventual location.

“It’s still under investigation, so we’re still going through some of those pieces, so (I) can’t comment at this time,” Adam Hicks said in an interview on Tuesday.

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Hicks praised the Regina Police Service and said he hopes to have more details to share in the future.

Police said they were first contacted around 12:20 p.m. on May 5 by a school resource officer after the non-verbal boy went missing from a school area near the 200 block of Hamilton and Broad Streets.

Around 15 police units and 80 officers were involved in the search, which ended shortly before 6 p.m. when the boy was found unhurt near Ross Avenue and Winnipeg Street.

Public tips helped guide police to the boy’s location as well as registered home security cameras.

The school division’s preventative maintenance and renewal plan includes a division-wide line item for a system to prevent vulnerable students from leaving a school building. The status of the project is pending.

Tawaw School on Hamilton Street only opened last fall, but it’s not clear if it has such a system.

“New schools are equipped with all the right things that the schools need,” Hicks said.

“What I can say is our staff are exceptional, and this is an extremely rare case that, again, is under investigation.”