An alleged sexual assault on a young student who was assigned to escort a male visitor through Ketcham Elementary School “has highlighted a need to take immediate short- and long-term action to improve procedures and protocols around school security,” officials said Friday.
The Washington Examiner reported Thursday that D.C. Public Schools permits individual schools to decide whether to allow students to chaperone visitors through the halls, but was reviewing that allowance to increase security.
A statement from DCPS spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz on Friday fortified that change:
D.C. parents — including Council Chairman Kwame Brown — told The Examiner that they did not believe an elementary school student should ever be left alone with a stranger.
Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington counties do not allow elementary school students to chaperone visitors.
“DCPS plans to use the incident at Ketcham as an opportunity to discuss and reinforce proper procedures and protocols with all of our school leaders and staff,” Salmanowitz said.
Read the full statement from DCPS below:
In the instance at Ketcham Elementary School, the suspect spoke with an adult aide at the school about picking up a student. The aide claims to have recognized the suspect and assigned a student escort to lead him to a classroom. This is not a DCPS policy and this incident has highlighted a need to take immediate short- and long-term action to improve procedures and protocols around school security. DCPS is currently reviewing school security policies at our schools in order to strengthen and improve the way we keep our schools safe, particularly around student arrival and dismissal when there are many parents and family members present on school grounds.
Already, DCPS’ principal at Ketcham Elementary School has met with parents, caregivers, teachers and staff to review the school’s response to Wednesday’s incident and provide an overview of proposed recommendations to improve security at the school. DCPS plans to use the incident at Ketcham as an opportunity to discuss and reinforce proper procedures and protocols with all of our school leaders and staff.
