HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOUR SCHOOL TO RESPOND? — Nov. 5, 2006
At Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris, a Sun Journal reporter spent 10 minutes outside, tugging on every side and back door to see if they were locked. After going in through the main entrance, she walked the halls for 40 minutes, passing some classrooms three times.
Published in the Sun Journal on Nov. 5, 2006.
Just weeks after a spate of school shootings rocked the nation, no one — not even a police officer who fell in step behind her — challenged the reporter’s presence.
In a 2006 Sun Journal investigation, 14 reporters fanned out to check the security at 37 schools across Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties. A quarter of the schools did well — with locked doors, monitored entries and vigilant staff — but others showed gaping holes in security. Many failed to follow their own fundamental safety rules.
The investigation drew the ire of some parents and school administrators who argued reporters should report the news — not make it.
But the results were immediate. Schools tightened their security in response to the Sun Journal’s report.
Following the article’s publication, then-Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron urged all superintendents to establish a single entry point at their schools, to issue visitor passes and to train staff to address strangers who didn’t have passes.
Many local schools agreed to follow those recommendations, locking exterior doors,…
