Boone Reveals New Safety Measures for Burncoat High School
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
GoLocal Worcester News Team
On Sunday afternoon, Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Melinda Boone sent out an email to the Worcester School Committee and other administrators detailing new safety measures being put in place Monday at Burncoat High School.
As GoLocal Worcester reported, on April 17 a gun and ammunition was found in a locker at Burncoat. Beyond the arrest and charges, the student in question will miss an entire year of school.
The email from Dr. Boone read: "The week of April Vacation has seen a great deal of planning and action to ensure a safe and orderly return to school tomorrow at Burncoat High School. (Principal) Will Foley and his team have continued effective and proactive actions to reinforce school safety and the handling of this isolated incident. Will and his team conducted locker checks last week - opening and inspecting each one and no items of concern were found in the lockers. Additionally, Will has worked very closely with Dr.(Marco) Rodrigues and myself (Boone) throughout the week discussing strategy and needed supports. In addition to the locker inspections, the following actions will occur in conjunction with tomorrow's return to school."
According to Dr. Boone's email, the new safety measures include the enforcement of "no backpacks" in the halls of the school. The email states "Backpacks brought to school will be stored in lockers at the beginning of the school day and may be retrieved at the end of the school day for dismissal" (It's worth pointing out that this rule already exists and is enforced at Burncoat High).
The Worcester Police Department Liaison was present during school arrival on Monday and stayed the length of the day.
Dr. Boone ended the email by stating, "Principal Foley and his team handled the situation extremely well and very professionally resulting in virtually no interruption of normal school operations. The actions of the teacher, administrative team, school safety liaison and WPD revealed a near seamless operation and set of protocols that yielded an outstanding outcome. Our goal now is to ensure normal school operations throughout the remainder of this academic year."
Principal Foley also sent out a phone message to all parents and students on Sunday evening to make them aware of the new safety measures. Here is the full text of that message:
Good evening Burncoat High School families, this is Principal William Foley calling this evening hoping that everyone has had a restful and enjoyable vacation and to follow-up on the situation that took place at the school last Friday.
As everyone is aware, last Friday, as a result of very disconcerting statements made by a student, a loaded handgun was discovered in locker. I want to assure everyone that over the past week working in concert with members of my administration as well as the district administration we have conducted a thorough review of the situation as well as our own safety procedures and protocols. Additionally, over the course of the week every single locker in the building was thoroughly searched, yielding nothing of concern.
Please understand that safety of our students, faculty and staff members is our number one priority and that we will take whatever steps deemed necessary to make sure that Burncoat High School is as safe and as secure as possible for all.
As such, beginning tomorrow we will no longer allow any student to carry any type of bag, book bag, large handbag, or purse with them during the course of the school day. Personal items that students need to carry must be kept in a small clutch style carry, not large enough for a book. While this is a change in practice at Burncoat it is one that we feel is necessary and important.
If at any time anyone has any comments, questions or concerns regarding the situation of Friday, April 17th or any other matter please do not hesitate to contact me. While this was a very serious and concerning situation it was truly an isolated incident and one that we will not allow to define Burncoat High.
Thank you and have a good evening.