Will it be Alcatraz or will it be a graduation seniors will want to remember? The first round of graduates – from
North Rowan – walk across the stage at Catawba College’s Keppel Auditorium at 8
tonight. All other schools follow suit Friday beginning at 10 a.m. Salisbury’s
graduation will be the last of the day and has been delayed until 8:30 p.m. It was
originally scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.
This year, besides parents, family
and school staff, police officers will watch the ceremonies, providing security.
They’ll likely also have metal detectors and police dogs.
Police officials won’t say
anything about their security measures.
‘‘I’m sorry, but
it’s the nature of the beast,’’ said Salisbury Police Department’s
Capt. K.L. Stutts. ‘‘Like this or any other special function, we prefer to keep
what we do in secret.’’
Associate Superintendent Howard
Hurt said he planned to have hand-held metal detectors and dogs present at the
graduations.
Rowan-Salisbury School
System’s Superintendent Dr. Joe McCann moved graduation ceremonies for South and East
Rowan high schools from their own football fields to Keppel Auditorium.
McCann based his decision on
safety after the April 20 Littleton, Colo. incident. Two teens killed 12 students, one
teacher and then turned their guns on themselves while Columbine High was in session.
After that incident, threats of
school violence have plagued school systems across the nation, Rowan-Salisbury and
Kannapolis included.
Here in Rowan, school officials
have suspended seven students for threats of school violence or for wearing full-length
black trench coats. Police arrested one student for communicating threats. *itSee related
article.
After those incidents, McCann
moved the graduations so police could better ensure the security of one building rather
than three or four facilities. School officials have said repeatedly that no one has
threatened any of the graduations.
‘‘We have been over
there looking at the building and walking the building,’’ said Associate
Superintendent Howard Hurt. ‘‘We have a plan for what we want to do.’’
A significant number of school
staff will be on hand for the event, complete with ID badges.
Even with no threats, Hurt said of
Keppel: ‘‘It will be as safe as any building in the state on that day. We think
it will be a real safe building, and we have no reason to think otherwise.’’
‘‘... We just want to be
prepared. We want to have security there and have it as least obtrusive as possible. We
want to be sure that people see that we’re taking this seriously, but we’re
trying not to make it like you’re going into a prison.’’ |
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