Questions About Security Follow Noblesville School Shooting

By Erica Irish
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS —  In March, soon after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, Noblesville Schools hosted a school safety forum to reveal its plans to provide students with a safe learning experience.

A presentation discussed at that public meeting posted to the Noblesville Schools website reported the corporation employs four school resource officers, or traditional law enforcement, and 14 school safety specialists.

The presentation lists several deterrence methods against school intruders, including office ID checks for visitors, locked doors, background checks and building construction.

The features listed, not including the law enforcement presence, only work against outside threats — not against individuals who have everyday access to a Noblesville school.

On Friday, a male student injured one teacher and one student in a shooting at Noblesville West Middle School Friday morning, Noblesville police confirmed.

Students reported the suspect, an unidentified male student, asked to be excused from a science class on the middle school’s second floor.

Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt said in a 2 p.m. press conference the student returned with two handguns and opened fire on the classroom.

Ethan Stonebraker, a seventh-grade student in the class, told the media that the teacher, science instructor, and football coach Jason Seaman, tackled the suspect.

Seaman is receiving treatment at IU Health Methodist, while the student was sent to Riley Children’s Hospital.

Police confirmed the suspect is in custody and unharmed. They also noted that one school resource officer was in the building at the time of the shooting but would not describe his or her role in the incident.

Details regarding individual safety features in Noblesville schools are not public due to safety concerns.

The school system does, however, subscribe to several prevention services. A few listed in the safety presentation include social skills lessons, counseling services, suicide threat assessments and a SpeakUp app, a web and mobile app where students can anonymously report bullying, harassment, and other threats.

The incident in Noblesville occurred after lawmakers changed school security procedures statewide with House Bill 1230, a measure passed at the legislature’s special session May 14.

HB 1230 provided Indiana schools with an additional $5 million in funding to improve school safety. Under the law, school corporations and charter schools may borrow up to $500,000 in funding advances to purchase school security equipment and other capital.

HB 1230 introduces more than resources. On top of the funding increase, all charter and private schools must create a school safety plan to provide to law enforcement, alongside a floor plan of the school. It also requires the Indiana Department of Education to conduct a statewide survey to understand the emotional and social state of students, among other provisions.

Gov. Eric Holcomb’s press team offered a statement in response to the shooting from the inaugural Paris to Indianapolis flight as the governor, House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis and retired Indiana Senate Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, were returning to the states following an economic development tour in Europe.

“Approximately 100 state police officers have been made available to work with local responders and will offer all assistance needed,” the release read. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation.”

Representatives for Jennifer McCormick, Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction, offered support as reports of the shooting spread.

“We have confidence in Noblesville Schools Superintendent Dr. Beth Niedermeyer and her team, law enforcement, and first responders,” the statement, issued by the Indiana Department of Education, said.

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill called the shooting another mark of an “epidemic of violence sweeping across American schools” in a statement.

“School safety plans, resource officers, red flag laws and hardened targets are vital to the defense of our schools and our children,” Hill said in the release.

U.S. Representative Susan Brooks, R-Indiana, tweeted soon after the news came out.

“My prayers are with the Noblesville community, especially those who are injured & those who witnessed an active shooter situation — something no one should ever have to go through. Especially children,” her message read.

Indiana Senate Democrats issued a statement on the incident after a district press conference at 11:30 a.m.

“Legislators must admit seriously that we have to keep guns out of our schools, and restrict access to deadly weapons by dangerous individuals,” the statement read. “No child should go through something this traumatizing and it’s our job to stop it.”

FOOTNOTE: Erica Irish is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.