Wissahickon elementary school tightens security measures in light of local and national school safety scares
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<p>One of the 27 ice sculptures along Main Street on Saturday. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>A hand made of ice points the way to parking. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>A LOVE ice sculpture welcomes customers to The Little Apple on Main Street. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Dave Munson plays a rectangular shaped guitar for pedestrians near Main Street. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Customers of Winnie's Le Bus enjoy lunch along Main Street during the Saturday festival. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Matthew McKenna and Alyssa Emig watch one of the carvers at work. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>An assistant gives a hand to sculptor Don Lowing as he uses a chainsaw to work on the big lines of his sculpture. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Brianne Dykema and Joe Parker from Manayunk pose for a shot during Saturday's festival. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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The 'Manayunk on Ice' festival is organized for the third time. Ice Sculptors from all over the country are showing their skills during the three day event. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)
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<p>Dan Rebholz, an ice sculptor from Chicago, wows the crowd while he works. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Ice carving tools briefly at rest. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>"For years I just carved with a shaver and a hand saw. It is mind boggling what these younger guys do with ice," says veteran ice carver and National Ice Carving Association Lead Judge Irv Brockson. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Peter Slavin and Don Harrison use an Alaskan Mill saw to split a large block of ice. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Amalie Margaret Casey, visiting from Taipei, checked out the action on Main St. on Saturday. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Ice Sculptor Kevin Roscoe from Seattle, Washington, makes final touches on his artwork on Saturday. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Mirage</p>
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<p>Red silk on green front </p>
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<p>Global Connections by Mike Gyampo</p>
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<p>Woven Slice by Nancy Cohen </p>
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<p>Turbulance by <span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial;">Al Aronson</span></p>
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<p>Authorities spent the day searching the courthouse in Wilmington. They'll go over the area again Tuesday as part of their investigation. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>Wilmington Mayor Williams was among the first on the scene. His office is blocks away. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>The court complex in Wilmington moments after the 8am shooting death of 3 people. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>The New Castle County Court will be closed through Tuesday. A-G Biden says any court workers who need help will be provided assistance in light of the shooting. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>Court workers and anyone with court business were kept inside the New Castle County Courthouse for several hours after the morning shooting. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>Police tape around the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington after 8am shooting leaves 3 dead and 2 officers wounded. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>Police credit their Kevlar vest for stopping the bullets that were fired at 2 Capitol Police officers. (Mark Eichman/WHYY)</p>
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<p>Wilmington Police work with Capitol Police to investigate the New Castle County Courthouse shooting. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>State and Wilmington authorities searched all 9 floors of the New Castle County building after the morning shooting. (Mark Eichamann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>Police gather outside the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington after the 8am shooting. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>King Street was closed from 4th to 8th Street. The courthouse will be closed through Tuesday. (Mark Eichmann/WHYY)</p>
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<p>Cook-Wissahickon is located on E. Salaignac Street in Wissahickon. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Cook-Wissahickon parents recently received a letter from the administration noting the changes in the school's safety protocol. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Under the new policy, the doors to the lower grades will remain closed throughout the day. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>A sign on the inside of the front door reminds children to not open the door for anyone. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Principal Karen L. Thomas says the new safety measures will help to keep track of everyone entering the school. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
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Principal of Cook-Wissahickon, Karen Thomas, stands at the doors of the school. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks, file)
Karen Thomas, principal of Cook-Wissahickon Elementary School, recognizes how easily schools can take safety for granted.
“In a neighborhood like we’re in,” she says, “we feel pretty safe.” But in light of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, and the kidnapping that occurred inside Bryant Elementary in West Philadelphia, Thomas and her staff have evaluated and tightened their student safety procedures.
Last week, Thomas sent a letter to parents and caregivers outlining changes in the school’s dismissal procedures and its expectations for visitors and volunteers.
Thomas says that her changes are “nothing new and inventive,” but “speak more to the fact that we have to pay attention to our policies and to how they keep kids safe.” After reviewing these procedures, a safety team comprised of a building engineer, a lunch aide, the dean of students, the nurse, and Thomas defined areas in which the school could improve its protection of students.
Access to the school building
The most significant of the new precautions concerns exterior doors that provide outdoor access to the kindergarten and Head Start classrooms. Previously, parents and caregivers could enter and exit these doors when teachers opened them. Now, says Thomas, they “don’t open during the school day.”
Cook-Wissahickon is asking parents and caregivers to stay outside of the school building. Regardless of the weather, they are expected to drop off their children with school personnel at schoolyard doors in the morning, and to pick them up in the schoolyard during afternoon dismissal.
Thomas and her staff are also requiring parents to limit early dismissal requests to emergencies only. One finding of the safety team – and a concern shared by building administrators at a district-wide meeting – is that too many parents make a habit of taking their children out of school early. Thomas acknowledges that there are good reasons why caregivers need to retrieve children before classes end, but that even then it is best for students to attend a full day of school, from 8:35 a.m. until 3:24 p.m.
Early dismissal rules
If a child must be dismissed from school during the last hour of the school day, he or she can only leave with a parent or a caregiver listed on the child’s emergency contact form. That adult must show photo identification and sign the school waiver. “Under no circumstances,” the letter dictates, “will a child be allowed to leave the school with a minor under the age of 18 or an unauthorized adult.”
Adult visitors, including school volunteers, are restricted to the main office unless otherwise given permission by administration. Volunteers may only receive access to classrooms if the school has their security clearances on file and if they wear visitors’ badges.
Thomas says that some of these more obvious measures must be reiterated because it is “easy to become complacent” with security. “People with ill intent can do things that you would have never imagined,” she emphasized.
Thomas told NewsWorks that while she expected that the community would find some of the new practices inconvenient, she has only received a few complaints. “Most people are grateful,” she says.
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