Photo by: Derek Redd
Wheeling Police officers block the entrance to Wheeling Park High School Friday morning while WPD investigates after two bullets were found on a school bus. WPHS was on lockdown for most of the day while the investigation continued.
WHEELING – After two bullets were found in a school bus Friday morning, Wheeling Park High School was locked down inside and out for most of the day.
Text messages announcing the curfew were sent to parents shortly after 9 a.m. Friday. Parents received regular updates via text message throughout the curfew, and Ohio County Schools announced the end of the curfew shortly before 1 p.m.
According to Rick Jones, assistant superintendent of Ohio County Schools, a bus driver found two bullets that had been placed on the bus but were not there Thursday night and were not there when the driver began his trip Friday. The driver immediately notified school administrators, who immediately contacted the Wheeling Police Department.
When the curfew was imposed, students remained in their developmental guidance classes (they were supposed to spend all day Friday there for back-to-school orientation anyway) while Wheeling police conducted an extensive search.
Jones said all students left their backpacks in the hallways while police dogs trained to detect gunpowder residue sniffed each one. Police also searched every student in the school with a metal detector.
No weapon was found at the school, Jones said, and police did not find anything else that could be linked to any kind of threat against the school.
Jones said later Friday that the student who brought the bullets onto the bus had been found and that the student admitted to bringing the bullets. The WPD will take over the case from there, Jones added, and the school district will handle the matter from its side.
Jones said the search took about two hours.
“This is probably a little longer than we wanted,” he said, “but we wanted to be thorough.”
He also praised both the police and the students and staff at WPHS for their handling of the situation.
“Everything went so well and smoothly,” Jones said. “Every child went out, stood in a line, got searched and went back. If they needed to go to the bathroom, we had people to accompany them.”
“It wasn’t an emergency,” he continued, “it was more of an investigation just to see if there was any cause for concern. And we just want everyone to know that we take things like this very seriously and we take our time to make sure everyone is safe.”
The school district used a new system to keep parents updated on the curfew’s progress. Karin Butyn, district director of communications and alumni relations, sent out multiple text updates. At the beginning of the curfew, they were sent about every five minutes. As the curfew progressed, the intervals increased to about every 10 to 15 minutes.
“We wanted to give (parents) quick updates so they don’t panic when they’re trying to call and get through,” Jones said. “Because everyone is trying to call and we want to keep the lines open. So everyone has been great at that.”
Friday was also the first day of the new cell phone policy for students at Wheeling Park. Students must now put their cell phones in a wall pocket at the beginning of each class and are not allowed to use them during class. They can use their cell phones before school, between classes, and during lunch.
There were some comments online from parents who were upset that the rule would prevent them from quickly contacting their children. However, Jones said that the children’s cell phones were in the classroom and they could access them in an emergency.
Jones added that the lack of mobile phone access has made the situation even worse.
“The kids weren’t saying, ‘I heard that,’ or ‘I just got a text that they found this.’ All of those things put the whole situation at risk,” Jones said. “So this is day one of our policy. We’re going to work on it and I’m sure make a few changes here and there. But safety comes first and playing with phones comes second and we’re just going to do what the police tell us to do.”
Wheeling Park students are expected to attend all classes starting Monday.
“We know that a lockdown has dampened the joy of the first day,” WPHS Principal Meredith Dailer said in a recorded message after the lockdown, “but we also know that the safety of our students and the process of a lockdown must come first. We look forward to a better first day on Monday.”
