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HIGH SCHOOL: Officials say little about Friday
incident
Dec 21, 2005
Police went to the high school in numbers last Friday
morning, responding to an incident which school officials say did
not, in the end, endanger lives.
�On Friday we asked the police
to come to the high school to investigate a rumor. They responded
quickly and determined that the rumor was unfounded. At no time were
RHS students or staff at risk,� Superintendent Kenneth Freeston
said.
�Both the Police Department and the school are still
investigating the matter.�
Flourishing in the absence of official
explanations, student rumor portrayed the incident as in response to
a report by one student or students of hearing another student
threaten violence � according to one version, in response to
frustration that snow didn�t cancel classes Friday as many
expected.
�If we had school, he was going to shoot everyone in
school,� one student said, paraphrasing the rumors.
Other reports
said a student was believed to have a gun. Some talk later had it
that the police searched for a weapon and found marijuana.
�We
will not confirm the nature of the rumor. We can assure people that
at no time were students and faculty at risk or in danger,� Dr.
Freeston said.
�Among the rumors on Friday was that we had a
lock-down. We did not,� he said.
�Police came to the school at
our request, questioned a student, and released him, with his
parent.�
No
arrests
For all the talk in the hallways of threats
and weapons and drugs, Ridgefield Police reported no arrests were
made.
The police were reluctant to say much at all about the
incident. Police Chief Richard Ligi referred inquiries to the
department�s public information officer, Captain Stephen
Brown.
�We responded to the school on Friday after receiving a
call from high school personnel to help them with an incident. The
details of the incident and our response wouldn�t be something that
we�d normally discuss publicly,� Captain Brown said.
�The
information you�re looking for needs to come from the schools. It
was a school incident. There were no arrests,� Captain Brown
said.
He declined to comment on what students had said was going
on.
�We just can�t respond to rumors. It would just get out of
hand,� Captain Brown said. �We would normally make public what we
would make public, based on facts.�
He rebuffed questions about
whether there was a weapon or threats of violence involved.
�That
information�s got to come from the school,� Captain Brown said. �I
can just tell you that we assisted them on Friday.�
He also
declined to say how many police went to the high school.
�Things
like or methods and ways of responding to an incident we don�t
normally discuss, publicly,� Captain Brown said.
Privacy concern
Superintendent Freeston explained that school
officials were constrained from releasing information about such an
incident � even without the names of students � by the currently
prevailing interpretation of what constitutes invasion of privacy in
the case of students and educational institutions.
�Because the
identity of the student is known, we can�t describe anything related
to the incident, because that would be releasing personally
identifiable information about the student, even though we�re not
identifying,� Dr. Freeston said.
�We used to think in education
if we didn�t name the students, we were protected,� he said.
�Because the student is known to people, if we were to characterize
the event, people can make a connection between our comments and the
individual, which is a violation of that person�s privacy
rights...
�I can tell you the rumors were not correct, but for me
to say what the rumors were would be releasing information about
that student,� Dr. Freeston said.
�But we do want to assure
people: At no time were people at risk or was there any danger to
RHS students or staff.�
He added, �One of the things we learn
from events such as these is that school and town officials react
quickly when a rumor comes to their attention, to determine whether
or not students and staff are at risk.�
Lock-down drills
While
firm that Friday�s events shouldn�t be considered a �lock-down�
incident, Dr. Freeston did discuss the school system�s evolving
approach to preparation for the sort of things that, until a few
years ago, school administrators didn�t worry much about.
This
fall the school system began rehearsing lock-down procedures
with staff after school and during �professional development� when
students have a day off but staff reports to work. Plans are to do
the drills with students, eventually.
�We�re doing what we call
vulnerability simulations at the high school and, soon, at the
middle schools, and eventually the elementary schools,� Dr. Freeston
said.
�...We simulate for the adults in the building lock-down
conditions, to learn where our problems will be, in a drill which
will follow with students,� he said.
�The Police Department has
been extremely helpful in working with us on each of these drills,
and advising us on how to conduct them. They�re present when we
conduct them.�
Plans to have students rehearse lock-downs are a
change in policy.
�The previous superintendent had directed that
lock-down drills not be done with students present,� Dr. Freeston
said. �I have a different point of view. I think in the event we
ever need a real lock-down, students need to know what they�re
supposed to do.�
He could not say when the lock-down procedures
would be done with students.
�When the timing is right, meaning
we�ve communicated with students and parents about the purpose of a
lock-down drill, we will simulate a lock-down for students so that
they know what to do, in the case of a lock-down emergency,� Dr.
Freeston said.
� Copyright by Hersam Acorn
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