OHIO COUNTY, West Virginia — After Wheeling Park High School’s first day of lockdown, school safety was a topic of conversation at the Ohio County Schools Board of Education.
The cell phone policy decided by the school administration went into effect on the first day of school. That day, the school was cordoned off after bullets were found on a school bus.
This raised some concerns and questions among parents regarding this policy.
BOE President David Croft said that in the event of an emergency, a student could request their phone. The board debated what should be considered an emergency, since the lockdown was not due to a threat but rather a precautionary measure.
“The government, which I trust because of its experience because it is on the ground, is very clear that it would be even more damaging for the children to be put in such a situation because of the potential for false information to get out to the public,” Croft said.
School board members said the process went smoothly during the lockdown. School officials were constantly disseminating information through their app to keep parents updated. Officials were investigating whether a weapon was involved, which there was not, and police were finger-searching students.
The Board of Directors also examined the decision from a safety perspective.
“We know parents want to make sure everything is OK, so we send them a message every three to five minutes to let them know there is no immediate threat and nothing is happening that poses any danger to anyone,” said Assistant Principal Rick Jones. “We were just in the rooms. We weren’t going to change classes until we went through the whole school to find out if there was any kind of contraband.”
The Board will proceed cautiously in the future and will stick to its policy for the time being.
“The mood on the board tonight was: Let’s keep this policy in place, let’s try to learn from it, and we can change it at any time,” Croft said.
The meeting also discussed a possible time change for Wheeling Park High School from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. The earliest this could happen is 2027, when tight schedules allow for a better decision on providing more buses.
“Your teenagers, your high school students, are not getting enough sleep,” Croft said. “And our kids are getting on the bus before 6 a.m. That’s unhealthy, and as a school district, we have a duty to take care of our students. We need to see if that’s doable.”
“It is complex and challenging, but we need to have healthy students.
