KEEPING THE ORCHESTRA AFLOAT PERFORMING ON FLOATING STAGE WITH HELP OF A LOCAL BUSINESSMAN
April 30, 2007Jessie Darcey
May 2, 2007
In the two weeks following the Virginia Tech University massacre, law authorities have had to lockdown local schools on three occasions.
In two instances, domestic disputes had the potential to spill over to the school, causing police and school administrators at Acadian Elementary and Elysian Fields Middle schools to take a “better safe than sorry” approach. The third incident, which occurred last Monday, involved a Central Lafourche High School student and resulted in the 16-year-old boy’s arrest.
According to Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Larry Weidel, students reported the teen had a weapon shortly after classes began. The school was placed in “lockdown” mode while deputies, K-9 officers and detectives searched the school.
Weidel said the “all clear” was given around 1:30 p.m. when deputies found the “weapon.” The teen, it turned out, had brandished the handle of paint spray gun, convincing students that it was a weapon, he said.
“It is unfortunate that some students are not taking what happened at Virginia Tech seriously,” Weidel said. “They are willing to put the lives of their fellow classmates in danger, and for what? A few laughs? Those students should not get off lightly. They have to learn that there are consequences for their actions.”
In the meantime, both Terrebonne Parish Superintendent Ed Richard and Lafourche Parish School Board spokesman Floyd Benoit are heralding the effectiveness of the schools’ handling of the situations.
Richard said both lockdowns came as a shock, but noted the security plans in both incidents worked. The plans are constantly being reviewed, and he said possible amendments to the plan are being discussed.
Likewise, Benoit said the school system crisis management team reviews the Lafourche system’s plans. Each summer, he said each schools’ four-member teams take training courses on how to handle crisis situations that may arise on campus. “They have guidelines they have to follow to insure campus safety,” Benoit said.
The recent incidents come on the heels of a request by Gov. Kathleen Blanco that Louisiana universities and school systems revamp and reinforce their campus security plans.
“Louisiana joins a nation in offering its condolences to the Virginia Tech families. We must be vigilant and determined to ensure that our schools are safe havens for learning and shelters from violence,” Blanco said at a press conference.
Blanco directed Joe Savoie, the commissioner of Higher Education, and State Police Col. Henry Whitehorn to reinforce all campus safety plans to ensure that schools are doing all they can to protect the students.
“I want to ensure that campuses have the capacity to issue immediate warnings to the student body, faculty and staff in the times of emergency,” Blanco stated.
In compliance with the governor’s request, Nicholls State Police Chief Craig Jaccuzzo said the university is assembling a plan for all emergency situations on campus.
“For a situation of this nature, I don’t think we can really be fully prepared. But we have coordinated with the city and parish law enforcement agencies as to what each agencies’ role is during a similar situation,” Jaccuzzo said.
Because NSU’s 15-commissioned patrol team is not equipped with tactical units, the campus police chief said the university has to rely on outside law enforcement in life-threatening situations.
University police at Virginia Tech’s campus were in a similar situation when 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, an English major, went on a shooting rampage that left 32 people dead and many more wounded. It was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history.
In the days following the April 16 shooting, Virginia Tech officials have been the subject of criticism because of the delays in notifying students of the seriousness of the situation when the initially shootings occurred at a dorm on the campus.
Concerned with its own policy, Jaccuzzo said communication has been a much-discussed topic on the Nicholls State campus.
“The university administrators are meeting with civilian staff and the police to come up with methods that we can give early warning to situations that may arise on campus,” he said.
Among the options being considered are using emails, emergency call boxes and public announcements that have automated voice recordings alerting the students of potential campus emergencies, he explained.
Jaccuzzo said meetings are being scheduled to open the lines of communication, and mock trials will be conducted to evaluate the methods.
