Additional police officers were sent this morning to patrol the neighborhoods of Kapolei and Niu Valley following reports Wednesday of possible kidnapping and sexual assault cases near two Oahu schools, state Department of Education officials said.

A Kapolei Elementary School student told police that a stranger with a beard tried to kidnap him Wednesday morning as he was walking to school, but he managed to break free after kicking the man.

Later in the afternoon, a man reportedly exposed himself to two Niu Valley Intermediate School students as they were walking to a bus stop. The suspect approached them in a car, tried to pick them up, and exposed himself before driving off.

Kapolei Elementary School Principal Cindy Otsu sent a letter to parents and guardians Wednesday afternoon saying the boy was walking near Kaiau Avenue at about 8:10 a.m. when a man “grabbed him by the shoulders from behind and threatened to take him.”

The student kicked the man in the leg and the man fled, she wrote. Otsu said the student was unharmed.

In her letter, Otsu described the alleged kidnapper as a slim man, possibly in his 30s, with a beard, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and shoes.

Police have classified the case as an attempted kidnapping.

Police said officers were also at the Kapolei school campus at 91-1119 Kamaaha Loop today. Parents were asked to remind their children to walk in groups, not to approach strangers and stay in visible areas.