They bowed their heads, closed their eyes and stood in silence.
After a few moments, the Millard school board did its best to resume regular business Monday night, the board’s first meeting since the Jan. 5 shooting at Millard South High School.
Board members and the 30 or so people in the audience stopped to remember slain Assistant Principal Vicki Kaspar and Millard South’s first principal, John Lammel, who died of natural causes last week. School board President Mike Pate also asked people to think of Millard South Principal Curtis Case, who also was shot Jan. 5 but is recovering.
Case visited Millard South and stopped by the Don Stroh Administration Center earlier on Monday, Millard Superintendent Keith Lutz told the board.
It was an emotional return for board members, all of whom expressed their sympathies to the families affected by the shooting and thanked the various law enforcement agencies that responded.
“It’s been just a tragic period of time for the Millard South family,” Pate said.
Lutz said the district plans to hire an outside consultant to review the district’s security policies and procedures.
The consultant has been chosen, Lutz said, but he declined to name him Monday night. The consultant has worked with the district for the past 12 years and has trained the district’s crisis team of counselors, Lutz said. But the consultant has never had anything to do with the district’s security plans.
Lutz also said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called him a couple days after the shooting to extend his sympathies. Duncan told him the district could apply for a $50,000 streamlined federal grant to pay for any extra costs associated with the shooting, Lutz said.
The district plans to finish the grant application on Tuesday and expects to hear back from the federal government in a couple weeks.
Lutz said he would give the board a full report about the consultant at a later date.
Stephanie Morgan, director of the Millard Parent Society, asked board members and administrators not to overreact and make drastic changes, such as installing metal detectors at the district’s high schools.
Contact the writer:
444-1074, jonathon.braden@owh.com
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