A KCRG investigation found that Hannah Jorgensen was alone with 14 students when she and Ahmed Osman drowned at the Lake Macbride spillway during a school field trip. The program guideline called for no more than 10 students per adult, and the trip was part of School of the Wild.
Ahmed Osman, 10, drowned last month after the class stopped for lunch and he waded into the water, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office said he slipped and was sucked out by fast currents near the lake’s dam.
School of the Wild rules
The University of Iowa runs School of the Wild to expose kids to nature, and its youth-program rules for day trips with children age 9 to 14 call for one adult for every 10 students. That standard matches the American Camp Association standard.
Investigators said Jorgensen was by herself with a class of 14. Students used their teacher’s phone to call for help, and another bystander jumped in to try to save Osman and Jorgensen before getting back to shore.
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said that bystander stayed with the other 13 students until law enforcement arrived. Jorgensen also jumped in after Osman, and both drowned during the incident at Lake Macbride.
KCRG said it reached out to the University of Iowa and the Iowa City Community School District about why Jorgensen did not have additional help, but neither responded. The supervision gap leaves the central operational question in the case tied to how one teacher ended up responsible for 14 students on a trip governed by a 10-to-1 guideline.
