DEARBORN, Mo. — North Platte superintendent Karl Matt remains concerned but did not find any immediate danger to students following an unnerving experience on a bus route last week. According to an alert sent out to parents in the district, a bus driver observed a subject in a silver Mercury Mariner taking pictures of students on the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 15. The incidents happened at four dropoff stops on a route northeast of Dearborn, Mo. in Buchanan County.
Matt said law enforcement officials were immediately notified, along with the parents of students at the stops the driver indicated pictures were taken.
On the following day, Buchanan County Sheriff’s deputies monitored the route in question and did not observe any suspicious vehicle or behavior, according to Matt. The district plans to stay on alert in wake of the incident and make sure the public knew to notify the district with any information on the incident.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the district or law enforcement officials with more details.
“We have no evidence of what they were doing. We have no tips, hints or understanding why they were doing that,” Matt said. “Nothing was seen again and nothing has been since then. Just as a precaution or in case there was anything malicious going on, we thought we’d send the alert out.”
The district attempted to send out a digital alert to all signed up to receive notifications from the school that night. Initially, there was a problem with full distribution, but all were sent out by Friday morning.
Matt said in the alert that the district will work to correct the problem that caused the delay. Any patron signed up for “Panther Alerts” that did not receive either a text or email notification on the incident can contact the school to make sure his/her information is properly listed in the system.