CRESTWOOD, IL — Parents, teachers and staff blasted the Cook County School Dist. 130 school board over the lack of communication and transparency during a hard lockdown Wednesday at Nathan Hale Middle School, where a student was reportedly found with a gun.
Angry parents said they had to turn to social media when learning that the Crestwood middle school had gone into hard lockdown just before 11:30 a.m., after a student reported to a teacher of seeing another student with a gun.
Families told Patch they received no communication from the district or school administration until 1:06 p.m. of a “possible weapon” in the school, and that the lack of transparency from the district in general is an ongoing problem. Crestwood police also haven’t issued a statement about the incident.
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Facing a packed media center at Veterans Middle School in Blue Island, District 130 board president William Werner read a statement before Thursday’s board meeting. Werner praised the quick actions of Nathan Hale staff and the Crestwood Police Department. However, Werner said that the board would make no further comment on the student or specific details about what happened.
Carrie Bean, who lives behind Nathan Hale, said she was alerted by her Ring camera that police had been called to the middle school. Been’s grandson, a Hale seventh-grader, stayed behind from a field trip to Eisenhower High School to see a play. She said her grandson texted that kids were sitting in classrooms on the floor, and that nobody was telling them anything.
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“They kept them on hard lockdown for over 90 minutes,” Been added. “We just want to know what happened. We’ve lived here 22 years, and Crestwood police likes to keep things hush-hush.”
Meanwhile, rumors of a second gun and a clip being found at Hale on Wednesday spread across neighborhood Facebook groups. Commander Rich Wyman, of the Crestwood Police Department, said that rumors of a student loading a gun in a restroom were “not true.”
Wyman said the eighth-grader was turned over to the Cook County Juvenile Division. The gun was not loaded when it officers searching the school found it.
“The student bringing an empty gun doesn’t make it better,” Wyman said, telling Patch that Crestwood police will be releasing more information soon.
Shay Marshall, union steward for the Dist. 130 custodians, told the board they were assured by District 130 Superintendent Colleen McKay after another lockdown seven months ago, that custodial staff would be notified during future lockdowns. Marshall said there is no PA system in the maintenance room, and that custodial workers are continually moving between the Hale primary, intermediate and middle school buildings, which are interconnected by a pedway.
“This needs to be addressed,” Marshall said. “By the grace of God, our custodians had gone out into the hall, when the soft lockdown was announced. They would have been going into the [middle school] building, where a hard lockdown was in place.”
Shoshanna Edwards, a parent and educator in a nearby school district, said while she understood keeping kids safe in a crisis outweighed the need to email parents., the lack of information in the aftermath was “unacceptable.”
“As parents and members of this community, we deserve to know what the next steps are and the details of what happened because when you don’t, you create a platform for people to develop stories of what happened,” Edwards said. “Those stories are often times not accurate. Parents are trying to piece together information of what actually of what happened.”
Hale Middle School teacher Rebecca Renaud spent the hard lockdown comforting sixth-graders hiding under tables, begging to know if their siblings were okay, and to text their families. She also criticized the district’s active shooting training, which she said consisted of an online tutorial.
“We did not know for over 40 minutes what was going on, I have a problem with that,” Renaud said. “There needs to be better communication in our district and our school. This is not the first time I’m bringing up the lack of communication.”
Many parents attending the board meeting demanded that metal detectors be installed in all Dist. 130 school buildings. Others openly expressed their distrust of the school board and district administration, but praised teachers and staff.
Cari Conway kept her seventh- and fifth-grade daughters home from school on Thursday. She told the board that metal detectors would have kept the gun and other weapons from entering the building. She said the student accused of having a gun in school had a history of disciplinary and behaviorial issues. .
“I want to know why he is still a student at Hale,” Conway said. “Your discipline policies are failing our children and because of the lives could have been lost.”
Later, Conway, a former Hale teacher’s aide who now works in another school district, told Patch that kids bullying other kids with weapons has been “out of control” at Hale, and parents are continually being notified.
“As a parent, I’m not okay knowing what kind of threats my children are facing in your buildings,” Conway said. “It is my right as a parent to make clear and accurate decisions whether my children are safe at school,” she added.
Supt. Colleen McKay told the audience the district has bolstered Hale’s security with cameras, a new vestibule, and by keeping doors locked. The district is also updating its parent notification system.
She said staff at Hale followed the district’s safety protocol to the letter. McKay provided a timeline of Wednesday’s incident, saying the first notification came at 11:27 a.m., not an hour earlier as some parents have suggested. After placing the middle school on hard lockdown, the next call was to Crestwood police.
“They came within two minutes,” McKay said. “When they identified the student, the student was removed from the property and taken to the Crestwood police station.”
McKay said officers removed ceiling tiles and looked under urinals and sinks, anywhere the student may have gone, until the gun was found. Crestwood police worked with the student and parents.
“They have not told me what happened when they met with the student and what was revealed,” McKay added. “I don’t have that information.”
The superintendent insisted that only one gun – unloaded – was found in the school, and that no additional guns were found. The audience groaned.
D130 board members went into executive session. When they emerged, they told parents and staff that the purchase of metal detectors will be discussed at the next school board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at Eisenhower Cooperative School, 5318 W. 135th St., Crestwood.
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