Wadsworth High School
Newspaper II/III
January 2013
The
BRUIN
1870 - 2013 Wadsworth City Schools: “Celebrating 142 years of Excellence in Education”
Volume XXXIVIII No. 4
625 Broad Street Wadsworth, Ohio 44281
School implements security measures
Photo BY GRACE RHODES
Alli, 11, barricades the classroom door while practicing a new lockdown drill. By Grace Rhodes
The school district has been working relentlessly to improve the safety of its staff and students. The district’s Safety Committee, which has been in operation for approximately one year, has developed a District Safety Plan and Continuous Improvement Plan. These plans outline strategies that are designed to enhance building security and raise awareness of the proper actions to perform in an emergency situation. “We do have safety measures in place, and we are still refining those.
Valentine’s Day Feb. 14
We will continue to refine those to make our building as secure as possible. That is our whole goal,” said Mr. Jerry Parsons, Wadsworth High School Principal. One of the most important features of the plans is the development of a new lockdown procedure that will be taught to students in the 2013 school year. This lockdown replaces the current, passive strategy of hiding with a more aggressive approach. Classroom doors will not only be locked but also barricaded, and students will be encouraged to spread out and use readily available items, such as textbooks, for self-defense.
“Because our safety plan is not new, it is very extensive and very good. This aspect of it, the past few years switching from a passive lockdown to a more aggressive lockdown, I think it is just going to improve our safety plan,” said Mr. Steve Moore, Associate Principal and member of the Safety Committee. Administrators are to be trained for the drill in January, staff in March, and students in April. Students will not be required to attend school on March 28 while the staff is being trained. Clear communication will also be heavily emphasized during the training. Through the use of phones and the PA system, administrators hope to communicate exactly what the threat is and its location to staff. In this way, individual classrooms and wings can decide whether it is better to prepare to barricade and defend or evacuate via the newly established evacuation points. The school system is also working to build a stronger bond with the safety forces. There will be more police presence patrolling the high
school campus, especially during high-traffic times. Officer Innocenti, the school’s liaison officer, as well as other policemen are being encouraged to walk through the high school and build relationships with the students. By doing this, administrators hope that students will no longer find police presence alarming but rather see the officers as familiar faces that they can talk to and trust. In order to help prevent tragedy, the high school will continue to practice a perimeter lockdown after 7:35 a.m. Also, administrators ask that students report any rumors that deal with the endangerment of the school to staff members immediately. They remind students not to spread or exaggerate the rumors to their peers; the school system will warn the community of the threat appropriately. Parents are also encouraged to contact staff with any concerns. Ultimately, the more information the administrators receive, the safer the school remains. As Mr. Moore stated, “It takes all of us to keep the building safe.”
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Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting Victims Charlotte Bacon, 6 Daniel Barden, 7 Noah Pozner, 6 Jack Pinto, 6 Jesse Lewis, 6 Ana MarquezGreene, 6 Jessica Rekos, 6 Chase Kowalski, 6 Catherine Hubbard, 6
Mary
Sherlach, 56
Dawn
Hochspung, 47
Victoria Soto, 27
Rachel D’avino, 29
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Josephine Gay, 7
Nancy Lanza, 52
Photos COURTESY OF Mct CAMPUS
Six adults were killed during Adam Lanza’s rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Victims include school psychologist Mary Sherlach, Principal Dawn Hochspung, first- grade teacher Victoria Soto, behavioral therapist Rachel D’avino, special education teacher Anne Marie Murphy, and substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau. Lanza also murdered his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared.
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Sandy Hook remembered forever By Carly Cundiff
Twenty children and seven adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012 in the second largest school shooting in the nation’s history. Adam Lanza, 20, fatally shot twenty first graders and six staff members in the small Newtown, Connecticut school before turning the gun on himself. Two others were wounded in the attack. Lanza entered Sandy Hook at 9:40 a.m. after killing his mother at the home they shared. He was armed with three sami-automatic firearms that belonged to his
Inside
the
mother. Lanza then proceeded to the school, where he made his way through two first-grade classrooms before committing suicide. Police entered the building at 9:45 a.m., going room by room searching out other shooters and clearing survivors, who ran to a nearby firehouse. Adam Lanza lived with his mother five miles from the elementary school and had attended the school for a short period of time. Nancy Lanza, his mother, was a gun enthusiast and often took her sons to the local shooting range. The motive for the shooting is
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still unknown. It was reported after the shooting that Lanza suffered from Aspergers, a form of Autism. After the shooting, President Barack Obama addressed the nation, expressing, “enormous sympathy for families that are affected”. He urged a need to prevent tragedies like Sandy Hook from happening in the future by encouraging stricter gun control legislation. He ordered flags to be flown at half mast to show respect for the victims. Stories of heroism have been a glimmer of hope in an otherwise horrific tragedy. Victoria Soto saved some of her first grade
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Grace McDonnell, 7 Emilie Parker, 6 Benjamin Wheeler, 6 Dylan Hockley, 6 Caroline Previdi, 6
index Page – page 4
2012 In review Newspaper-Yearbook I classes reflect on the best and worst moments of the past year
students by locking them in closets and telling Lanza the students were in the auditorium. Six of her students were among those killed, but the other seven were able to escape because of Soto’s sacrifice. Principal Dawn Hochsprung only worked at Sandy Hook for two years. She and another staff member attempted to subdue Lanza just after he broke into the school, which she paid for with her life. The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary and the 27 lives that were taken will forever live on in the hearts and memories of those affected for the next four years.
Olivia Engel, 6
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*Issue 4 withdrawn on Sept. 4, 2008
Editorial.........................................................2 News.............................................................3 Opinion......................................................4,5 Ads ..................................................6,7,17,18 2012 In Review ..........................................8,9 Picture Pages ........................................10, 11 Features......................................................12 Entertainment..............................................13 Speakout.................................................... 14 Sports...........................................................15 Health.........................................................16 Of the Month...............................................19 Outreach......................................................20
Allison Wyatt, 6 James Mattioli, 6
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Avielle Richman, 6