Shenandoah County Schools To Re-Evaluate Security
Three Safety Forums Scheduled This Month
Posted: January 5, 2013
SHENANDOAH COUNTY - Parents of Shenandoah County Public School students, as well as concerned citizens, may voice their opinions on safety at three forums hosted by school administrators.
The first is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Signal Knob Middle School in Strasburg. The other two will occur on Jan. 15 at North Fork Middle in Quicksburg and Jan. 22 at Peter Muhlenberg Middle in Woodstock. Those also will take place at 7 p.m.
School security concerns have been in the spotlight nationally since the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in December took the lives of 26 students and staff.
A few days after the shooting in Newtown, Conn., tensions were running high, particularly among Shenandoah County parents, as a local man was arrested for entering Sandy Hook Elementary School in Strasburg bearing a sign that read “high-powered rifle.”
The man, Christopher Gerrit Johnson, was arrested on one charge of disorderly conduct and released from jail on bond following a Dec. 28 hearing.
Jennifer Dill, a parent of a kindergartner and first-grader at Sandy Hook, said directly following the incident that she’d like to see changes at the school, including having the doors locked at all times and possibly some sort of armed presence.
Superintendent B. Keith Rowland said he is open to making changes in the division’s school security measures.
“[The Strasburg arrest] certainly set off a sense of uneasiness among parents,” he said. “I think, even though you’d like to think that our schools are safe, there are certainly things we need to do to re-evaluate our procedures.”
Rowland said the administration wants to hear from parents on what they would see as a safe environment for their children.
“Hopefully, by working together we can develop a safe school environment,” he said.
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com
The first is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Signal Knob Middle School in Strasburg. The other two will occur on Jan. 15 at North Fork Middle in Quicksburg and Jan. 22 at Peter Muhlenberg Middle in Woodstock. Those also will take place at 7 p.m.
School security concerns have been in the spotlight nationally since the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in December took the lives of 26 students and staff.
A few days after the shooting in Newtown, Conn., tensions were running high, particularly among Shenandoah County parents, as a local man was arrested for entering Sandy Hook Elementary School in Strasburg bearing a sign that read “high-powered rifle.”
The man, Christopher Gerrit Johnson, was arrested on one charge of disorderly conduct and released from jail on bond following a Dec. 28 hearing.
Jennifer Dill, a parent of a kindergartner and first-grader at Sandy Hook, said directly following the incident that she’d like to see changes at the school, including having the doors locked at all times and possibly some sort of armed presence.
Superintendent B. Keith Rowland said he is open to making changes in the division’s school security measures.
“[The Strasburg arrest] certainly set off a sense of uneasiness among parents,” he said. “I think, even though you’d like to think that our schools are safe, there are certainly things we need to do to re-evaluate our procedures.”
Rowland said the administration wants to hear from parents on what they would see as a safe environment for their children.
“Hopefully, by working together we can develop a safe school environment,” he said.
Contact Kaitlin Mayhew at 574-6290 or kmayhew@dnronline.com