“Why are you home from school?”

That was Megan Link’s first thought when her daughter came home at 11 a.m., even though she was supposed to be at Beiger Elementary School.

Link’s daughter left the playground during recess, walked unnoticed through the gate and down the street to her house.

Even though she returned home safely, her mother can’t stop thinking about how the situation could have ended.

“My biggest problem right now, and I keep thinking to myself, is: What if we weren’t home? You know, we live with my parents. What if we weren’t home? What if something had happened? Anything could have happened. Nobody knew about it. That’s a problem,” Link said.

Link says she spoke to the principal and learned that the school is working to ensure that no more students can run away unnoticed.

She says it should never have happened.

“Just be more mindful and make sure that if there is a gate, you lock the gate where the students are on duty, or have someone manning the gate. And then when the kids are separated, then the adults are in one area and the adults are in another,” Link said.

Kory LaBonne, director of human resources and school safety for the School City of Mishawaka, says that while the school has over 50 cameras installed and several custodians were on duty during the incident, the school will review its security plans to ensure something like this does not happen again.

“We need to make sure we have adequate staffing there as well. It’s not just the number of people supervising students at any given time, but the placement and location of those people to make sure we have clear visibility. You know, person to person,” LaBonne said.

Link says that as she drove past the school during recess, a school security guard was standing at the gate.

The school administration has not yet confirmed whether this change will apply for the remainder of the school year.