“I would be shocked if ultimately that fencing is not put in,” said Dick Caster, safety and security consultant for the Ohio School Boards Association. “Fundamentally, access control (to student areas) is the No. 1 thing. … But I emphasize you can minimize the threat, but you’ll never totally eliminate it.”
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Dayton Police said the attack took only seconds. The assailant quickly fled the Oakridge Drive school, and police said Monday, 72 hours after the stabbing, they do not know who the man is.
Numerous local elementary schools have playgrounds and recess areas immediately bordering parking lots and driveways. Some, like Orchard Park in Kettering and Ruskin in Dayton, have 3- or 4-foot fences separating the parking lot and play areas. Others like Driscoll in Centerville and Oakview in Kettering, have two such playground areas, one fenced and one not.
Dayton Public Schools officials said a security officer who would normally have been at the school was out on a sick or personal day. But according to information from World of Wonder Principal LaDawn Mims-Morrow, if the officer had been at the school, he would have been in the lunchroom at the time of the stabbing, because that’s where a larger number of students were.
Superintendent Lori Ward said there is no district-wide policy that a school security officer must be outside if students are outside. Dayton Police Sgt. Richard Blommel said there were 20 to 30 students on the playground at the time of the attack, a number Mims-Morrow confirmed. Blommel said he believed there were two teachers outside, and Mims-Morrow, through district officials, said there were three teachers outside.
Ward said there will be a discussion of security protocols at the regularly scheduled school board meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Ward said district security officials, the World of Wonder principal, and some parents from the school will be present, and Dayton Police have been invited.
In the meantime, Ward said district leaders are re-emphasizing basic strategies with all school staffs, rather than making major changes.
“The things that we’re communicating are just to be mindful of people that you don’t know,” Ward said. “Go up and ask them, ‘Who are you?’ Be diligent of people that are not supposed to be in or around our buildings.”
Caster, of OSBA, said those are important and valuable strategies that can sometimes chase off people intending to cause trouble. He said schools can choose from a wide range of safety techniques, but it comes down to what each community wants.
“How much of a fortress is the community willing to tolerate? That will vary depending on community,” Caster said. “You can put up walls, you can have armed people. But what will the people support? … You can’t make everybody happy.”
That's been a high-profile issue in Dayton schools recently, as one group of residents led by Racial Justice Now fought against even a limited use of armed police at sporting events. The school board decided to keep that limited use of police despite the protests.
Dayton School Board member John McManus addressed safety questions Monday from the perspective of what the school board can do.
“I have little doubt that the school board will put as much investment into this infrastructure as we need to, to make everybody safe.
“… Because I want to know from a board level what we need to do to make sure something like this never happens again.”
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