Chris Loftis, executive director of communications for Kent School District, made a statement to the Reporter after Friday’s publication of the story about the lockdown at Kentwood High School last week.

I appreciate the Reporter offering the Kent School District the chance to provide our perspective of this event. The video speaks for itself in many ways and the anger that has been expressed by parents of impacted students is certainly understandable.

The facts are clear, in a rapidly unfolding situation, we had an intruder on our campus who had been handcuffed by Covington Police and then escaped their custody. The intruder, a former Kentwood student, was very familiar with the campus layout and was able to access the building before external doors could be locked. A well-meaning staff member, Jo Anne Daughtry, could not see the handcuffs on the young man as they were obscured by his jacket. Thinking this was simply a straggling student, the veteran educator placed the young man in an office with several students.

We share the community’s relief this story ended quickly with no one harmed, threatened, or intimidated. We certainly understand the frustration of parents of the students in the room with the handcuffed intruder. As I said in the article, if my own child was placed in a similar situation, I would have been just as upset.

The safety of all children, and especially our own, is at the heart of who we are as parents and educators. As a school district, dealing with that passion and concern is a much happier challenge than dealing the problems caused when that passion is not held or expressed.

One concern I have about an area the article does not adequately cover is the appropriate context for our staff person’s action. While an obvious mistake in hindsight, she saw what she thought was a young person in her charge that was vulnerable to unknown danger.  Without regard to her own safety, she swept that person up and placed him into a position of greater safety. Jo Anne Daughtry was doing what our community would expect all KSD staff members to do – she was putting students above self. Of course, she and the District regret the mistaken identity in this case.

One thing is certain, we have already and will continue to learn from this event and incorporate that learning into our continuous process of improvement.  Our Safety Services model is recognized across the country as one of the most innovative and successful for its focus on student and staff trust, well-trained district safety officers, a well-coordinated partnership with multiple first responder agencies, and the cutting-edge use of technology.  The other hallmark of our approach is transparency. We have provided the media and community with multiple camera angles of a quickly changing event that has shown the strength of our systems and protective focus, but this also unveiled a situation where that very same protective focus led to an error in practice.

Your children’s – our students’ – safety is our number one priority.  While we cannot stop the criminal behavior of others nor the occasional intrusion of society’s challenges onto our campuses, we can and will continue to do our best to keep our students, staff, and visitors safe in the Kent School District.

–Chris Loftis
Executive Director of Communication
Kent School District