School board reviews lockdown on first day of school at Wheeling Park High School | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by: Derek Redd

Meredith Dailer, principal of Wheeling Park High School, discusses the school district’s cell phone policy in light of a curfew at her school on the first day of school.

WHEELING – While Ohio County Schools and Wheeling Park High School administrators and staff were praised for their handling of the school-wide curfew on the first day of school, board members and school administrators discussed next steps – including possible metal detectors at the school and clarification of the district’s new cell phone policy.

On August 16, WPHS was placed on lockdown for about four hours after two bullets were found on a school bus. Students remained in their special education classes during this time while police sent police dogs through the school, sniffing every student’s backpack and searching each student with a metal detector.

No weapon was found and police eventually discovered which student had brought the bullets to the bus.

Rick Jones, assistant superintendent of Ohio County Schools, praised everyone at the high school for the way they handled the curfew.

“It was as quiet and smooth as you could imagine,” he said. “I was there the whole time, walking around, and everyone did exactly what they were told. I didn’t notice any behavioral problems with anyone.”

The search for metal detectors led to discussions about purchasing metal detectors for the school, Jones said. The detectors the school district is considering are portable. They can be placed at the entrance doors for students to walk through, and then taken to and used at football or basketball games.

“Instead of checking the children, we could have just let them go through,” he said. “That would probably have shortened the inspection to about 30 minutes.”

Jones said after the meeting that he might review several models at an upcoming conference to see which one would be most cost-effective. The model he mentioned during the meeting would cost around $200,000 for two models.

The discussion also revolved around the district’s new cell phone policy, which prohibits WPHS students from using their cell phones during class. The phones are kept in bags in classrooms and can be picked up after class and used before school, between classes, and during lunch.

Chief executive David Croft said he had heard from parents who were frustrated that pupils were not allowed to use their mobile phones during the lockdown. They were concerned, he said, about not being able to contact their children during this time.

He added that while he did not have a “very strong” opinion on the situation, he would tend to let students keep their phones.

“While there is some risk of misinformation, I don’t think that outweighs the vast majority of children who would tell their parents that everything is OK,” he said.

Jones said the situation that day was more of a precaution than an emergency, so students did not need to get their phones. He added that if students had their phones and started texting each other during the investigation, it could have jeopardized the investigation. The district sent parents several texts to notify them of the curfew, Jones added, so there was no need to give students access to their phones.

Board member Molly Aderholt said the policy was put in place to reduce class time, and since curfew was not class time, students could have picked up their phones.

“I would support allowing students access to their phones in a situation similar to the first day and any other emergency that might arise,” she said.

“With all due respect,” Jones replied, “I couldn’t disagree more.”

Wheeling Park Principal Meredith Dailer, who attended Monday’s meeting, said classes have been in session for most of the lockdown, with students in their developmental guidance classes, looking at a 40-slide PowerPoint presentation and a list of other assignments.

“Classes have continued,” Dailer said, “and to me that’s a sign of an emergency. Do we need to shut everything down and turn off the lights? Those kinds of considerations tend to be: Yes, we’ll give you your phone. Your parents need to stay in touch with you.”

Board member Andy Garber agreed with school officials that restricting phone access was the right thing to do. If students had their phones with them and there was a gun in school, students could tell the person with the gun that authorities were looking for them, he said.

“It puts safety at risk,” he said. “The safety of these children is our number one priority. If for their safety they can hold out and not use their phone, then that’s what I think.”

Croft said it might help if the policy included a more detailed definition of what constitutes an emergency so that administration, staff, students and parents are all on the same page. But nothing needs to be done immediately.

“Maybe we’ll just let the directive rest for a while and see how it continues to work,” he said, “and we’ll revise it again if necessary to provide further definitions to ensure some certainty.”