Organized walkout at PDHS raises students’ concerns over handling of recent lockdown

By Chris Whelan

Around 100 students at Paris District High School took a stand on Wednesday afternoon, staging a walkout to voice their dissatisfaction with the Grand Erie District School Board's (GEDSB) handling of a recent weaponsinduced lockdown.

The protest comes in the wake of heavy police presence at the Grand River Street North school last Friday, March 1st A 15-year-old student was charged with a weapon related offence for bringing an edged weapon onto the school premise.

According to a media release issued by the OPP a couple hours after the start of the incident, officers were dispatched to the school at approximately 12:24 p.m. to investigate a call of a student in possession of a weapon.

Following the OPP’s response, the school board posted a notification on X (Twitter) at 1 p.m., alerting the community that the school was on lockdown

"Paris District High School is currently in a lockdown while police conduct an investigation There is no movement in or out of the school during this time. Students and staff are safe, and we will provide an update as soon as the situation is resolved," the tweet read.

Many parents have commented on social media that they did not see the post on X and only found out about the lockdown much later or when they received a text from their terrified child.

However, what concerned most parents, who expressed their views on social media, was a lack of communication from the school board during and following the incident A follow-up tweet wasn’t posted until 2:34 p m , stating that the lockdown had been lifted and normal school operations had resumed, assuring students and staff of their safety.

Continued on page 9

It was 3:07 p.m., the end of the school day, that parents received an email from the principal titled "Follow-up to Lockdown," which mentioned that the lockdown lasted approximately half an hour The email also included a link to the school's mental health resources. This limited information left students and parents feeling frustrated and uninformed, as they believed the email did not provide a complete picture of the situation.

During Wednesday’s walkout, students expressed their concerns, clarifying that the lockdown duration was nearly two hours, during which they were either confined under their desks or locked in closets.

The Grand Erie District School Board replied by email to The Paris Independent’s questions surrounding lockdown policies and commented on the planned student walk-out. Dave Smouter, the manager of communication and community relations for GEDSB, clarified that the lockdown duration is determined by the police and had lasted around 30 minutes. However, he acknowledged that after the lockdown was lifted, the police requested that the halls remain clear to complete their investigation, which extended beyond the initial 30 minutes but was not considered a lockdown. Smouter did not specify the exact duration of this additional period.

While GEDSB deemed the lockdown incident to be within standard procedures, parents and students still seek greater transparency and a comprehensive account of the events They feel they are left relying on rumors rather than official information.

Following the student walk out, to address these concerns, PDHS administration sent a new email

Letters To The Editor

March 6, titled "Additional Information Surrounding Friday's Lockdown" The email revealed more information including that the weapon involved in the incident was an edged weapon, specifically a knife It also clarified that students remained in their classrooms for an extended time while the police conducted their search, students were able to use the bathroom but generally remained in their classrooms. Once the search was completed, the remainder of the day proceeded according to the regular schedule.

The GEDSB email to the Paris Independent also stated that “We respect the right of any student or community member to protest or demonstrate peacefully. Our priority is safety and learning, which governs our response to any planned protest. We welcome feedback from students and the community, and we always want to improve processes where possible ”

For more information on school incident response procedures and terminology please visit the Grand Erie District School Board's website: HERE

All