Parents, teachers say Elmwood Park High School 'dropped the ball' when student brought gun
ELMWOOD PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- "You dropped the ball" – that is the message from teachers, parents, and students in a crowded school board meeting Wednesday night in Elmwood Park.
As CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reported, the community is calling for change after a student brought a gun to campus last week and the school was not placed on lockdown.
Administrators maintain they did the right thing by not putting the school on lockdown – but also admit some mistakes were made. Parents and teachers now say they need to rebuild their trust.
The crowd in the Elmwood Park High School gymnasium was cheering – and a sea of staff and parents were wearing red Wednesday night. But there was no sports game going on – they were all there to slam school leaders for what they call a failure to keep their kids safe.
"Our kids have felt dismissed, betrayed, and disrespected," one woman said.
"Elmwood Park – your bar should be 'better safe than sorry,' not, 'sorry, thank goodness we're safe,'" another said.
Last Monday, police said they arrested and charged a 17-year-old boy who had a handgun. No one was hurt, but some say the school should have been immediately placed on lockdown – and students and teachers should have been notified sooner.
Sarah Pritt, an Elmwood Park High School junior, was in school at the time. She said she did not know about the threat until after it was all over.
"That's crazy that we weren't notified. And like, if I was in a lockdown, I still obviously would have been scared – but it would have been better than having to hear after the situation, 'Oh yeah, like, a kid had a gun in the school.'"
The administration says they did not want to alert the student that staff new he had a gun – which is why they did not put the school on lockdown. They say this happened during a passing period – which would have made tracking the student more difficult.
But staff did admit one mistake.
"We do believe that it would have been appropriate to call a lockdown - both at EPHS and surrounding schools immediately – once the student had left the building," said Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401 Board of Education President Frank Parisi.
Students, staff, and parents called for a stronger police presence – and some say now, they want metal detectors. But mostly, they want transparency – having finally received a statement about what happened from the district Wednesday afternoon.
That was 12 days after the incident.
The board now says they will come back with a plan in April to address changes to their safety protocol and training for teachers.