West G Superintendent Shares Safety Plans for District
West Geauga Schools Superintendent Richard Markwardt laid out safety plans for the district in a letter to parents April 11 after an 18-year-old student was arrested last week for bringing a handgun to school with reported plans to shoot multiple students.
West Geauga Schools Superintendent Richard Markwardt laid out safety plans for the district in a letter to parents April 11 after an 18-year-old student was arrested last week for bringing a handgun to school, reportedly with plans to shoot multiple students.
Markwardt said West Geauga Schools has been in conversation over the last several months with the Chester Township Police Department to explore ways in which they can expand the school resource officer presence in their buildings.
“That will include a more visible police presence, enhanced school safety plans, and safety-related training for staff and students,” Markwardt said in the letter.
Casey Orloski was the 17-year-old student who found a bullet in the boys’ restroom and alerted the school resource officer, ultimately leading to the gun being found and 18-year-old Brandon Morrissette being arrested.
Morrisette has been charged with attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; illegal possession of a deadly weapon in a school safety zone, a fifth-degree felony; and inducing panic, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Markwardt said the West Geauga Schools Board of Education plans to expedite the process of purchasing the necessary repairs and equipment to correct any issues after a recent discovery showed the PA systems were not working properly during the incident last week.
“Currently, we are working with several IT consultants to identify the cause of the public address system outage and phone system issues at the middle school and high school on the morning of April 3 and prevent their recurrence,” Markwardt said.
During a special meeting April 11, the board of education passed a resolution declaring an urgent necessity to replace the PA systems in both buildings with a new system, which is critical to maintaining a safe and secure building. Repair was not a cost-effective option for the old systems due to their age and obsolete technology, according to the resolution.
The cost of new PA systems is estimated to exceed $50,000.
“What happened last Monday was a very frightening event. Equally as frightening as the hour between the discovery of the bullet during first period and the arrest of the student during second period is contemplating what could have happened if the gunman had been able to execute his plans,” Markwardt said. “As a parent and grandparent, these thoughts are terrifying.”
Markwardt said the district has support in place for students and staff to help address and alleviate such fears.
“These include, in addition to our five regular school counselors, three full-time school psychologists, a social worker and a strong community partnership with Ravenwood Health,” Markwardt said. “The latter provides therapeutic-support personnel for all of our school buildings. The point of contact to access these supports is any one of our school counselors.”
Markwardt added the district has spent more than $1.3 million on security enhancements in the last five years.
“Some, like the relocation and or reinforcement of visitor entry points, are obvious. Others, such as new and additional cameras, radios, alarms, new doors, etc., are less apparent,” Markwardt said. “All help to keep our buildings’ inhabitants safe, but the events of last week indicate that our work is never done. This work is and will continue to be our priority.”
