Tuesday evening Madison school officials took the unusual step of opening the school building, which also houses the district’s elementary school, to the public. It was a move to help healing of the school community and speed “a return to normalcy,” school officials said.
Teachers and school staffers walked the halls and classrooms with school families, answering questions and calming the nerves of those in need of reassurance the school was ready to return to its status as a safe-haven in the close-knit community.
And this morning when students boarded their buses they found a teacher or school staffer waiting for them in case the teens or youngsters had any questions about what happened in their school cafeteria Monday or what to expect today at school.
Students and parents said they appreciated Madison officials taking extraordinary steps to ease their concerns.
“We’re terrified,” said Madison ninth grader Haley Pfieffer of students.
Haley was in the gym, next to the cafeteria and heard the gunfire, joining other students who ran from the scene.
“And they are still terrified today (Tuesday). We never thought this would happen at Madison.”
But Haley’s mother Hollie praised Madison school officials for Tuesday evening’s open house and the other efforts to minimize any worries of students about returning to school.
“They are doing a great job,” she said.
News media were not allowed into the school during evening event, but parents and students said they appreciated the rare step of allowing them to come to their school and re-adjust in the wake of the trauma caused by the violence that left two students hospitalized Monday.
Accused Madison High School shooting suspect, James Austin Hancock, 14, reportedly got the gun Saturday from someone he was related to, according to Butler County Sheriff’s Major Mike Craft.
Hancock also had extra ammunition, added Craft. Hancock faces six charges in the shooting of two students and injuring of two more students in the school’s cafeteria Monday. His attorney entered a not guilty plea Tuesday in Butler County Juvenile Court and the teen remains in custody at Juvenile Detention Center.
A hand-written complaint filed with the court described briefly the allegations against Hancock.
The complaint alleges the suspect brought a loaded handgun to school and fired several shots, hitting two students, which prompted a large law enforcement response and lockdowns not only at Madison High School, where it happened, but also other neighboring schools, Edgewood, Valley View and Middletown, according to the complaint signed by a Butler County sergeant and filed with Butler County Juvenile Court.
Madison school parent James Taulbee drove his two boys to the event and joined hundreds of other families who gathered at the K-12 campus, which is the centerpiece of the community.
Madison school system enrolls 1,500 students in the rural township just west of Middletown.
“In this day and age these sort of things (shooting) happen,” said Taulbee. “but hopefully all the kids can get back to school and get back to learning.”
Fellow school parent Karey Prince, who has four children in the local schools, said “our youngest girl doesn’t want to go back.”
“But once she see its normal again in the school she’ll feel better about returning.
The community remains in “shock and disbelief,” said Prince. “But I have not heard one negative thing about the school or officials or even the shooter and his family.”
“We will absolutely bounce back from this,” she said. “No doubt.”
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