Close to 100 students at Paris District High School walked out of classes on Wednesday afternoon to express dissatisfaction with how Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB) handled a weapons-induced lockdown on Friday.
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Police responded to a weapons call at the school around 12:24 pm on Friday, resulting in charges laid against a 15-year-old student who brought an “edged weapon” to school, Const. Jonathan Bueckert told The Spectator.
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The school board posted to X (Twitter) at 1 pm on Friday, saying the school was in a lockdown “while police conduct an investigation.”
It was the only communication parents received from the board, until an email came through just after 3 pm, said parent Cassandra Wallis.
Most students spent closer to two hours “either trapped under their desks or locked in closets,” student Jada Swartzentruber, told The Spectator during the walkout.
“The length of the lockdown is determined by police and was about 30 minutes,” Dave Smouter, manager of communications and community relations for GEDSB, told The Spectator in an email on Wednesday.
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After the lockdown was lifted, police asked that the halls remained clear to complete their investigation, which “extended beyond the 30 minutes, but was not a lockdown,” Smouter said.
During this time, students “were able to use the bathroom, but generally remained in their classes for an extended time until the police search was complete,” Smouter said, without clarifying how long this period lasted.
Bueckert said there was nothing unusual about the lockdown from a policing perspective.
Still, parents and students are pushing for more clarity, saying they still haven’t heard the full story and are left going off rumors.
The Spectator asked if GEDSB will take student and parent feedback into consideration for future lockdown policy, to which Smouter replied, “We welcome feedback from the community, and we are always want to improve processes where possible.”
Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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