Police handling of Reynolds case

Some parents at Reynolds Middle School are irate that they did not learn their children were interviewed in connection with a criminal investigation until the children told them.

"I felt violated. I felt my right as a parent was taken away," said one parent, who referred to the city police interview of her 12-year-old son as an "interrogation."

At the same time, the parent said she wasn't upset that her son was interviewed, just that she was not notified beforehand. She only learned about it when her son told her and after he presented her with a business card with a city detective's phone number on it.

The knee jerk, reflexive reaction is understandable. What parent worth his or her salt would not want to be there for their child or at least be told about the interview in advance?

Police sometimes contact parents when they are about to interview a child, although they are not required to by law. (The exception is when the child is a suspect, who is entitled to have an attorney present during interrogation.)

But sometimes the parent is unreachable for one reason or another, or police simply don't bother.

Then there's the Reynolds case, where police were investigating allegations that a teacher had sexual contact with a 13-year-old student.

A School District of Lancaster spokeswoman said in a prepared statement that "unique circumstances" surrounding the case prevented police from notifying parents or otherwise following recommended school policy on such matters.

What the circumstances were was this: A suspected sexual predator had been among Reynolds students.

The circumstances demanded swift, decisive action by authorities to investigate the 36-year-old teacher charged in the case, including whether there were any other young victims. Police evidently felt that contacting Reynolds parents about the matter was not absolutely necessary.

We certainly sympathize with the parents of the students who were interviewed, but we also appreciate what police are up against in attempting to solve such a potentially explosive case.

Perhaps the Reynolds case will serve as a teachable moment for police the next time — as there surely will be a next time.

Next time, maybe it will be just as easy for police to pick up the phone or ask the school to make the calls — either to invite parents to sit in on the interview or, at the very least, tell them what's going on.

This just might save everybody some grief.