By Danny Atkinson
Voice Writer
The staff and students at West Haven High School faced a crisis on the morning of Nov.15, when a student brought a plastic airsoft gun to the school and a second student took the gun and left campus. Despite the potential danger and uncertainty, district officials, along with city emergency services, secured the school and arrested the students. The incident has caused officials to make some changes in security procedures.
While WHHS had to close early due to the concern the incident caused among parents, district leaders and Board of Education members said they were satisfied with how well the lockdown went. A the Board of Education meeting Nov 18, Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro praised district and police officials for their ability to quickly find the student who took the airsoft gun with the help of their parent, and said he thought administrators had the situation under control the entire time. Principal Robert Bohan said the collaboration with the police and emergency services went very well, and particularly praised how well the students followed training they had learned during lockdown drills throughout their schooling.
“We don’t want it to get lost in translation how appropriate, mature and calm our student body was on Friday,” he said.
When the first student brought the “fascmile” gun into school, he had to go through a metal detector, which is required of every student. Ordinarily, students put their book bags on a table, which can be searched by security officers if they set off the detector. Security staff also searches for objects on a student if the detector goes off. They use a wand to find objects during this process. Bohan verified that he has seen security find sensitive items on students’ multiple times.
The student, who was wearing a heavy jacket, was able to enter with a gun due to an oversight. Zippers on jackets sometimes set off the machine. The gun, in a coat pocket, alerted the detector and wand. However, security did not check the jacket because it was assumed the zipper set the detector off. Bohan assured the Board of Ed that the security process when entering WHHS will need to change going forward.
The lockdown was initiated when a student saw the second perpetrator with the gun and reported it to staff. Once School Resource Officers (SRO) were alerted to the incident, there was an immediate lockdown, which initiated a huge response by city emergency services. No specific threat was reported to SROs, and the student who left the school property with the airsoft gun was located nearby quickly and immediately arrested. The gun was found close to this location.
Both students involved in the incident were arrested and charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, carrying a dangerous weapon, and breach of peace. They both have court dates at New Haven Juvenile Court.
During the lockdown process, Bohan made three notifications. The first was an immediate message to the families of WWHS students, the second a follow up, and then the third announced a school dismissal. West Haven Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana said that all officers responded to the lockdown and that between fire and police department members, there were 30 units at the school.
“We take that type of emergency very seriously. When there is any type of gun at the school time is precious. We will do everything we can to ensure the safety of the students and staff at the school. All the individuals and 9-1-1 dispatchers who responded did an excellent job,” Fontana said.
Fontana echoed Cavallaro and Bohan’s statements about the lockdown protocol being effective.
“I think that the whole protocol that is in place was followed very nicely. I believe that everything done that day went as planned, from the notification process done by the principal to the number of units that came to ensure safety. From the moment that emergency call was dispatched everyone did an excellent job,” he said.
Cavallaro and Fontana both expressed frustration with the inability to contact all parents about the lockdown and then ensure they did not rush to WHHS to check on their children. Because of the panic the incident caused among parents, administrators had no choice but to dismiss early despite both perpetrators being apprehended. Cavallaro said that having the district’s former communications coordinator officially leave his position that week complicated communication with parents on social media platforms.
“I’m not blaming the parents for coming, but I think the word got out, and the stories (among residents) got bigger than they were,” Cavallaro said.
Fontana said the city’s newly implemented School Safety and Security Task Force could ensure that students don’t immediately contact parents and cause them to come to any school that’s under lockdown.
“This issue all comes down to communication. If you can get out timely messages to parents to ensure they know students are safe when a lockdown occurs, it could deter parents from rushing to schools if their child begins texting them to come get them,” he said. “Still, we thought it was better to let students out early.”
Fontana said the Emergency Operations Department and schools need to find a way in the future to work with parents to train them in what steps they should follow if a similar incident occurs at a city school in the future.
“The last thing we want is for parents to rush to schools. Our department goal is to work together with the mayor, superintendent and police to let parents know quickly that their children our safe at school so that security operations are not disturbed in these situations,” he said.
Board of Ed member Heather Shea said she’d heard from other parents that the lockdown highlighted the need to make sure families have their current contact information on record with the district.
“We all need to be mindful of making sure emails are updated as parents and as guardians, so you do get those (notifications). I commend the communication 100 percent with this situation. The priority at that point is keeping people in the school safe and taking care of the situation,” she said.
At the Nov. 18 meeting, member Rosa Richardson said she has concerns about the emotional impact the lockdown could have had on students and whether it could be traumatic. Bohan stated he has an open-door policy for mental health support, and that students would continue to be rewarded with snacks for remaining calm during tense situations, as they were that day.
Fellow member Kim Kenny added that as parent of a student at WHHS, she believes teachers in the building have formed relationships so that all students feel they have a trusted adult to turn to for emotional support. Finally, Cavallaro said that school day was calm and students were able to ask any questions.
Kenny asked if the district had examined implementing a clear backpack policy. Cavallaro said he would reach out to a state advisory association to see if other districts had implemented these policies.
Two students that were at the meeting spoke about the lockdown. They each said their teachers helped make sure students were calm during it, and that they thought the overall incident was well-handled by school leaders.
Cavallaro said the school district would continue to evaluate what could have been done better during the lockdown to learn lessons for the future. Fortuna also communicated a similar message.
“Can we do better? We can always do better. No system is foolproof, but we’ll try to get as close as we can, Cavallaro said. “We want you guys to understand we take this stuff seriously. We want to get things right.”