East Wake High School ruffled one parent's feathers when it suspended her daughter for leaving a school building during a lockdown. | Sam Balye/Unsplash
East Wake High School ruffled one parent's feathers when it suspended her daughter for leaving a school building during a lockdown. | Sam Balye/Unsplash
Wake County Schools have declared lockdowns at various campuses five times in the past 10 days, and in one case a student was suspended for running out of the building during a lockdown.
That prompted the student’s mother to raise questions about the policy during a recent school board meeting.
"All I could think about was the safety of my children,” Naomi Miller told the board, as reported by WTVD. “My daughter was suspended for leaving school.”
The lockdown in question occurred Monday at East Wake High School and was one of several at that school of late. Miller took the matter to the school board on Tuesday.
"When I came into this building, I looked at both exits,” Miller said. “If someone were to walk in here right now with a gun, you're not going to stand here and defend me. You're going to run and try and save yourself."
Additionally, the day of the meeting, some might have thought another lockdown had occurred due to a police presence at East Wake. This was not a lockdown, and according to a spokesman, law enforcement could better explain the specifics, but the topic was not up for discussion on the meeting agenda.
No school board member responded to Miller's comments during Tuesday's meeting, having not prepared for a query that wasn’t on the agenda.
Miller doesn’t regret going off topic at the meeting.
”It needed to be addressed,” she said. “It needed to be brought to the forefront. We need a resolution."
Heather Scott represents District 1 where East Wake High is located.
“There is a consistent, negative vibe hanging over the school right now,” Scott said.
She suggested that East Wake High needs more counselors. She also asked people to stop putting their opinions on Facebook. She didn't speak about Miller's daughter's case or the lockdowns in general.
Even though Miller believes her daughter, a junior, did the right thing running out of the school during a lockdown, the suspension is a black mark on her child's permanent record, which is why she brought the matter before the board.
"We are our children's best advocate so it was important for me to come here and be heard and speak out,” Miller said.
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