Answers elusive on school safety
Issue has a 'lot of complexities'
A committee charged with reviewing safety at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in the aftermath of a fatal stabbing has made few specific recommendations, saying it had insufficient time to fully delve into the issues.
The safety review committee formed by the school board suggested that students' use and distribution of drugs and alcohol at the school be studied further because members believe such activity could be a threat to safety.
But the committee did not take a stand on whether the school's weapons policy, which lays out the penalties for students who bring weapons to school, should be tightened. And it did not issue recommendations on whether campus supervision should be altered, despite receiving a list of more than a dozen suggestions from the Lincoln and Sudbury police chiefs.
Sudbury resident Rick Johnson, who complained that school officials were slow to make changes in security after the stabbing, expressed disappointment. "I just hope we're not looking for the perfect answers before we make changes," he said. "Nothing will be perfect."
Dennis Picker , chairman of the committee, said the group found a "lot of complexities" and a "lot of shades of gray" as it assessed the school. As a result, the recommendations are more generalized than the committee originally thought they would be, he said. "It wasn't that straightforward," he said. "We didn't find a lot of things that if you just made that change, it's clearly going to have a significant impact on safety."
School Committee member Jack Ryan praised the group's efforts and compared its assignment to trying to solve a Rubik's Cube. "The topic was just short of insurmountable," he said. 