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Second Lockdown
Puts Safety in Spotlight

By Scott MacKeen and Kathy Kurtz Ferrari
Staff Writers
4/15/10
School administrators and authorities are considering their next move after live ammunition was found at Milton High School for the second time in four weeks.

The school was locked down during both incidents, most recently on April 13, when police said a student found “several rounds” of ammunition in a stairwell.

Students and staff were kept in the school for five hours until nearly 5 p.m., while police from Milton, Boston, Quincy, Chelsea and other communities went room-by-room to search the building.
An ambulance arrived during the lockdown and took out someone who suffered an anxiety attack.

Officers from the Metro Law Enforcement Council, headed by Canton Chief Kenneth Berkowitz, aided police with the search as parents waited outside the roadblocks.

As was the case in the first lockdown, which occurred March 15, no weapon was found and police say no one was in danger. In the first incident, a parent found a single shotgun shell outside the main entrance and the school was locked down for four hours.

Hours after this week’s incident, school officials and police addressed the lockdown during a meeting of the School Committee. Among the issues discussed was how the School Department is responding.

School Superintendent Mary Gormley said her staff will schedule at least one informational night for families, to discuss safety matters. She said there was frustration from parents unable to get information from the school during the lockdown.

Although some students inside the building were able to communicate what was happening via cell-phone text messages, an e-mail response from the school was not sent out to parents until 1:55 p.m., about three hours after the lockdown began.

Despite the ordeal, Gormley said the mood inside the building was always one of calm and order.

“Every teacher said, ‘The students were outstanding.’ There was never a sense of panic,” she said.

Gormley also praised the town’s police for a “phenomenal” response to the incident.

School Committee member Beirne Lovely called the Police Department “one of the most responsible and responsive police departments I could have imagined.”

Police Chief Richard Wells Jr. said about 40 officers and K-9 units were part of the response team. Wells said the student who discovered the bullets brought two of them to a teacher around 10:45 a.m., who notified police. He said the type of gun that matches the rounds is “very small and very easy to conceal.”

The chief did not mince words in talking about how his department is handling the incident.

“If we find them, they will be prosecuted,” he said of the perpetrator. “This is a very serious incident.”

Wells said there would be “a police presence” at the high school for at least one day following the lockdown, as the department continues to investigate the case.

School Committee member Mary Kelly asked what students can expect from the staff at the school in the wake of a second lockdown in as many months. “For some kids, this is going to be very disturbing,” she said.

Milton High Principal Dr. John Drottar said the staff is being briefed about the incident and encouraged to invite an “open dialogue” with students.

The candidates running for School Committee in this month’s election are also talking about the incident.

School Committee member Glenn Pavlicek, who is seeking re-election, said the committee has advocated for available grants that would fund security cameras.

“It’s something we’ve been working on,” he said. “Our biggest concern is knowing who’s going in and out [of the schools] at all times.”

Candidate Denis Keohane, who has three daughters in the schools, said the two incidents are proof the schools need to invest in security-camera systems.

“The lockdown a few weeks ago was because of an empty shell. This time it’s multiple loaded shells and I don’t want to wait for the next time to find out what may happen,” Keohane said in an e-mail.

Murray Regan, who is running for a seat on the committee, also responded via e-mail, saying, “To the question of avoiding these incidents in the future, I would say that we need to look at all possible alternatives.”

Margaret Eberhardt, the fourth candidate, has three children in the public schools. “I would anticipate a review of the overall security of the building and what additional measures we need to take in the future. I think a conversation with the public about what safety measures are in place, what the administration is doing daily to secure the building, and what they plan to do in light of these incidents is crucial,” she said via e-mail.

Those with information are asked to call Police Lt. Detective William West at (617) 898-4804 or the main number at (617) 698-3800.