Northridge Elementary School has the community on alert after a man tried to lure a boy into a car Tuesday.

"I understand a guy drove up to the corner of Divide and Third Street , which is the north side of Northridge, and approached one of our 10-year old boys," Principal Bob Olson said.

After school Tuesday, a 10-year-old boy was approached by a white man in his 20s with a mohawk haircut, said Lt. Dan Donlin. The man was persistent in trying to get the boy into the car, but the boy kept ignoring him because he did not know him. He was driving a late-model silver Pontiac Grand Am. The incident is under investigation, Donlin said.

The school found out about the incident about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday from a Police Youth Bureau officer, Olson said. He put together a letter for parents and e-mailed other elementary, junior and high schools in Bismarck.

"We really tried to get the word out," Olson said.

Thursday he had students learn about how to deal with strangers, and he began increased supervision on the playground and along the perimeter of the school.

After school, no one is allowed to wait outside after 3:30 p.m. In the letter to homes, Olson advised parents that the school provides supervision between 8 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.

"Too often, it is easy to think school is a place to drop off a half-hour early," Olson said. But, there isn't anyone there to watch the students, and the people who are there early are not there to do supervision, he said.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)