After a student’s arrest for firearm possession April 3 raised fears of another school shooting, parents crowded the West Geauga Schools Board of Education meeting that evening to express concerns about how the situation was handled.
After a student’s arrest for firearm possession April 3 raised fears of another school shooting, parents crowded the West Geauga Schools Board of Education meeting that evening to express concerns about how the situation was handled.
That morning, West Geauga High School was put on lockdown after an 18-year-old student was found to be in possession of a firearm while on campus.
The student was taken into custody by the Chester Township Police Department while an investigation was conducted, and high school students were dismissed for the rest of the day.
Board Vice President Christina Sherwood read a statement to the public at the start of Monday’s meeting thanking teachers, staff and local law enforcement for their help that morning.
“The events of today have reinforced that West Geauga is not insulated from the troubles that surround us. The events of today have also reinforced that our kids, staff and administration understand the absolute need to communicate concerns to one another,” Sherwood said.
Recent headlines make school safety the gravest concern of any school district, she said, adding efforts to maintain safety and security would continue.
“I would like to thank the student who initially alerted an adult,” Sherwood said. “Without his immediate action, this could have ended very differently.”
However, Chester resident April Orloski, who said her son was the student who found a bullet in the high school bathroom Monday morning, criticized the district’s response to the situation.
“As with every parent here tonight, I had many questions regarding the procedures that took place today. In the sequence of events, as I was told them, my (son) found a bullet halfway through first period. He alerted the resource officer and the office staff as he was supposed to do,” Orloski said. “My (son) was then sent back to the class and informed his teacher why he was gone for so long … which the entire class, including the student with the gun, overheard — making my child a target.”
Orloski said her son was pulled back out of class to answer more questions and then again sent back to class.
“The shelter-in-place did not occur until halfway through the third period, almost two complete periods later. Why was my child sent back to class after finding the bullet, making him a target,” she asked the board. “What if the student with the gun had an accomplice who was not in that classroom and was notified of my son’s discovery?”
Orloski added she was told the school resource officer contaminated the scene of the crime by touching the bullet without gloves. She asked board members what the school did to protect her child.
“My child protected the other students, but what did you do to protect my child today because he thought somebody else was looking out for him … because it wasn’t you,” Orloski said.
In a follow-up interview, Chester Police Chief Craig Young said law enforcement was not initially aware of the identity of the student who left the bullet in the restroom.
Determining the student’s identity was part of an investigative process, he said.
“Just because you find something in a bathroom doesn’t mean you immediately know who that person is. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy,” Young said. “It is impossible for law enforcement to just know who left an item until they investigate who was actually in and out of the bathroom. We have to investigate that appropriately, meaning there’s a lot of work that goes into determining who could have left an item such as that.”
Young added he could not comment on the handling of the bullet as he was not yet familiar with all of the details of that portion of the incident.
Resident Amanda Eiermann also took the podium to say she has a student starting at Westwood Elementary School in the fall and it pains her children no longer feel safe at school, in the community and across the country.
“Our reality is, we hear school shootings and casualties weekly, sometimes even daily it feels like. Today, I know that changes for the West Geauga community,” Eiermann said. “I’m a certified child passenger safety technician. I know how to keep kids safe in a car, but I don’t know how to keep them safe at school. I’m not coming up here acting like I have all the answers and I’m not gonna pretend I do. All I know is that we cannot afford to sit back and not change.”
Eiermann said the district needs additional protection in the form of metal detectors and school resource officers at every building, as well as a working relationship with law enforcement agencies to promote proper and responsible gun ownership.
“There’s so much we can do as a township to protect our vulnerable children and their teachers — we just have to act. The days of sending thoughts and prayers one day and forgetting about it the next are over for us,” Eiermann said. “Our children rely on us as parents and community members for their safety. I cannot spend the next 18 years, until my children are out of the house, worrying about if the hugs and ‘I love you’s’ I gave them that morning were the last.”
During his superintendent’s report, Richard Markwardt said the district has a safety plan in place that addresses a plethora of issues. The district’s number one priority is to keep people safe, he said.
“We are an educational institution, so obviously we try to educate students,” Markwardt added. “But learning only matters if you’re in a safe environment.”
Markwardt said the district recently discussed ways to improve the current safety plan with local law enforcement.
The plan is a huge document that is submitted every year to the U.S. Office of Homeland Security, he said.
“I do have to say today, with great pride in the actions of people here, that this situation went as pretty much as well as it could have gone, so I was very grateful for the outcome,” Markwardt said, adding, however, the district can do a better job of updating teachers in terms of the safety protocols with the buildings.
