By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — About 30 people turned out for the community school safety discussion hosted by the Claremont School District last week, which comes in the wake of a scare at Stevens High School involving what ultimately ended up being a group of students with a BB gun.
One thing that was stressed by parents and school officials alike was that whether or not the handgun was real or not, the threat shook the school’s teachers and staff.
On Feb. 11 at 12:56 p.m., the Claremont Police Department was notified by Stevens High School staff of a student, or students, believed to be armed with a handgun. It was reported that concerned student saw a video released on a social media platform that showed the gun in the school. The student told the principal who then called the police, and a lockdown was put into effect.
Principal Michael Herrington recalled the swift response by police, saying the video and body cam footage of officers with weapons drawn and bullet proof shields goes through his head. The lockdown lasted three total minutes, with officers checking each room and the entire school. They detained one student in the hallway and found three others in the bathroom, with one possessing the gun. Officers were still under the assumption that this was a real handgun and considered the threat to be very real.
Herrington confirmed how real the gun looked, saying, “I’ve been around guns all my life and four feet away I could not tell the difference.”
Authorities went through video evidence from the moment the students gathered until they were arrested. Video, which is not being monitored live, followed the children through the building. Most of the time they were the only ones in the hallway while everyone else was in class, and this went on for 30 to 40 minutes. The Snapchat video, he said, showed the students dancing in an elevator with their hands up, and then pointing to the gun in someone’s pants.
After the students were detained and brought to the office, they were separated and searched.
“Police did a room by room search with weapons, and it was very scary,” he said.
Students have told Herrington they were frustrated that people have said it was a BB gun and not real. They have voiced how terrified they were, something that was echoed by parents in the audience.
“That is what students had to deal with,” Herrington said. “That is what they are still dealing with and probably will for quite some time.”
While the lockdown went mostly accordingly, there were some holes in the system they were able to identify. Herrington said there was an issue with the PA system and some rooms did not hear the call for a lockdown and instead were approached by police with guns drawn.
The students were brought into the auditorium once the dust settled to inform them what had occurred, and that they were safe. Superintendent Chris Pratt said the response time by the police department “was incredible.”
“It was a matter of minutes,” Pratt said and added, “The kids felt a sense of how important to us and the community they are based on the response time.”
Pratt then turned to a panel that included the school district’s principals and Chief Brent Wilmot, letting them rehash their experiences and voice their concerns.
Disnard Elementary School Principal Melissa Lewis touched on what is done on a daily basis in regard to safe schools.
“From the moment we enter the building, we are always watching and always looking,” she said. “Do we see doors that are propped? Do we see anything that looks like a potential hazard? Do we see something that doesn’t belong?”
Lewis said the primary duty is to show students and staff what it means to be in a safe school. At the elementary level, it is slightly different because it is a whole lot scarier when you are a young child. This makes drills vital for the students to know what to do in a real scenario.
Pratt then posed the question of what challenges they face as principals to maintain a safe environment. Frank Romeo, principal at CMS, said the biggest challenge is making sure everyone knows that they are all part of the safety of the school as a whole. This means, if you see something, say something.
“One of the biggest challenges is letting everyone know we are all in this together,” Romeo said.
Pratt also said, “I’d rather be proactive than reactive when it comes to these situations, especially when it comes to the safety of students.”
The conversation shifted to the public, with City Councilor and father of a CMS student Wayne Hemingway commending the police for doing “an awesome job.” He also acknowledged how scary this was for the students.
“I don’t know what those kids went through, but I am sure it was terrible,” he said.
Hemingway said drugs, and not violence, tends to be the major problem in the community so he hopes this scenario was an outlier. However, he said they “need to look at this as a community and decide how we’re going to fix this.”
Kipp Ryan asked how the school is proactively identifying the students who are causing the issues. Herrington replied saying that he wanted to be respectful of students and wouldn’t be discussing names, but that every student in the school is known by staff.
“Were there plans put in place for students involved in this? Yes,” Herrington said.
Ryan added that the students were roaming around the hallways for more than a half-hour. Herrington said that he was actively looking for one of these students when they got the report. One thing he said to students in the gymnasium that day was that there would be no more roaming the building, and this is being enforced.
“For the majority, I want to say the students recognize how serious this is,” Herrington said.
Pratt and Herrington both pointed out that 95% of students usually want to be at school learning in a safe environment, but the small percentage can be a problem. One resident said when there are repeat customers it is tough for a parent, and that ultimately there needs to be accountability. School Board Chair Heather Whitney spoke from the audience, saying it is very difficult to expel a student.
Pratt was thankful for the input of the community and said there is still plenty to do for his team at SAU 6. He said hearing from parents and the community gives then the information needed to change the culture and be better overall.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Pratt said. “We’re not there yet. But I think all the teachers, administrators, myself and my office, are committed to moving forward to redefine what education looks like in Claremont.”
