Security an issue at Greeley

Security an issue at Greeley Assigned guard was elsewhere during Wednesday's gun incident
Thursday, February 10, 2005

Peoria Journal Star
BY CLARE JELLICK
OF THE JOURNAL STAR

PEORIA - The principal of Greeley Alternative School has been asking District 150 for better security since 2003, and just two days before Wednesday's lock-down, he told a superintendent he didn't feel his school was safe.

Michael Lockett said his school hasn't had a permanent full-time security guard for at least three years, and when a student was seen with a gun outside Wednesday, no guard was at the school.
The boy and another male juvenile were arrested less than three blocks away from the school about 9:40 a.m. No shots were fired.

"The best thing would have been if we had (a guard) there to begin with," Lockett said Wednesday. "An incident like today reminds you we need security here."

The school was given a full-time guard after shots were fired two weeks ago inside Woodruff High School, but on Monday, the guard was gone. Deputy interim Superintendent Ken Hinton said the guard was needed elsewhere.

Spotty security is something Lockett said he has come to know at Greeley, a school for middle and high-school students with severe disciplinary problems. The school has had only a "rover" guard who often fills in at other buildings.

"Quite often, our security in the past has been pulled for other places," Lockett said. "If the needs are elsewhere, the person at Greeley is the one who has been called away."

The school has a buzzer system that allows staff to control who gets in the front door through the use of a camera and remote-controlled locks.

A busy staff

Greeley also received a hand-held metal detector after the Woodruff shooting incident, but it has been used only sporadically because a guard isn't always around to operate it.

"(The use) has tapered off because I have other duties and my teachers have other duties," Lockett said. "You can't just assign anybody to do things."

Even though Lockett said he has repeatedly asked past and present administrators for more security, he didn't receive a guarantee until after Wednesday's incident. Hinton, who Lockett discussed security with on Monday, promised him Wednesday that Greeley would be staffed with a full-time security guard indefinitely.

"From this point forward, we will have a security officer there each and every day," Hinton said Wednesday.

Hinton added that District 150 is hiring two additional security guards - a process that started last year, though "definitely the event today will help speed up things." The guards are expected to start working in about two weeks.

Seeking help

In June 2004, Lockett wrote a detailed letter to the administration that spelled out the school's dire security situation.

"Greeley School is presently not safe and not secure for students and staff," he said in the letter to Ed Bradle, a District 150 administrator at the time.

He said the "rover" guard often was pulled from Greeley to perform other duties, such as substituting for absent officers, photographing and fingerprinting new employees, and providing security at Woodruff.

Lockett said on one occasion when the security guard wasn't there, a student picked up a desk and threatened to hit an employee with it. No one was injured in that incident, which happened more than a year ago.

The principal also told Bradle his staff needed hand-held radios so they could call for assistance from other staff members. He said staff in the hallways or on the grounds had no way to signal for help if needed.

Lockett said the administration, then led by Superintendent Kay Royster, didn't address his requests or even tell him why they couldn't be met.

Hinton said Wednesday it was a matter of money.

"A lot of the things would have required money, and at the time, there were money issues," he said.
A slight boost

The Greeley staff still doesn't have hand-held radios, but Lockett is thankful for the boost in security. "I feel very good about it. This is somebody who is going to set a deterrent against anyone who wants to create a problem."

Lockett also feels good about how smoothly the lock-down went. He said students were calm and followed teachers' orders to get into rooms.

"There was no running around and screaming, no crying, no nothing," he said.

Once the hour lock-down was over, the 65 students resumed their regular schedule and finished out the day. Oddly enough, teachers had just reviewed their crisis plan last Friday, so they knew exactly what to do.

"It was fresh on everybody's minds," Lockett said. "Most of the staff members actually thought it was a drill."

After school, parent Bruce Bridgeforth of Peoria said the day's events don't make him worry about his sixth-grade son's safety.

"There's only so much you can do to prevent anything," he said. "They're doing a pretty good job. Nothing happened."

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