Dear WUSD Community: 

As you are likely aware, there was an incident in Windsor yesterday with an armed fugitive that was apprehended near one of our school sites. 

Details of the incident are available in the statement from the Windsor Police Department, (and we waited to communicate until their statement was completed), but we wanted to add a few additional points as there have been questions regarding our actions and protocols. 

WUSD afterschool (WELL) staff has trained for these sorts of incidents, and the afterschool and pre-school programs at Mattie Washburn Elementary, Brooks Elementary and Cali Calmecac Language Academy moved into shelter-in-place. Because of the time of day this occurred, students at Mattie were already on the move towards snack when the alert for shelter-in-place came through via Nixle, and so the decision was made to shelter everyone in the library. The WELL administrator who received the Nixle alert called the other elementary campuses and programs to make sure they had the information and were also moving into a shelter-in-place. 

In fact, the WELL and Preschool staff had moved into a shelter-in-place before a direct order from WPD could be given to WUSD. WUSD, under direction from WPD, was in the process of ordering a lock down when the fugitive was apprehended. We commend the WUSD staff for their quick action.  

Based on some specific concerns raised, we wanted to clarify a few other points.

The challenge we faced was that the Nixle alert outlined a particular neighborhood that, it turned out, was not in fact where the suspect was ultimately found. Our sites instituted a shelter-in-place, but we were not informed that the location in the Nixle was not fully accurate until after the suspect was apprehended. 

In regards to families being allowed to check out their students while police were present at the park adjacent to Mattie Washburn, our sites were under shelter-in-place protocols, but they did not know the location of the police action until after they had been informed that the individual had been apprehended, and to move forward with the day. While we understand it was alarming for families to see the police activity, we were releasing students because law enforcement had already given us the all clear. There was no notification during the incident because it was so fast moving, and by the time we were getting ready to communicate, we were told the incident was over. From the time the Nixle was sent (3:58 pm) to when we were notified by WPD the suspect was in custody (4:14 pm), was less than 20 minutes. 

Alerts would normally be sent via ParentSquare, but there will always be a brief delay as we get details from our partners in law enforcement and ensure the safety of students and staff. This is especially true of after-school programs which de facto have less staff than during a regular school day. 

The normal protocol, depending on the incident, is that contact is made from our School Resource Officer to either a school site principal or our assistant superintendent, depending on the time of day (in the case of afterschool, it will generally be the assistant superintendent). The assistant superintendent will decide based on law enforcement advice whether to call for an action like a shelter-in-place at a given location, and then inform the necessary individuals (school sites/programs/administrators/district staff) to determine next steps. The school resource officer and the assistant superintendent were in communication yesterday.  As mentioned, the assistant superintendent was contacting staff, and we were preparing to communicate with families, when we were informed that the individual had been taken into custody and the incident was over. We then allowed law enforcement to take the lead on communication.

We understand this was a scary moment for families, but the important takeaway is the staff performed excellently to safeguard the students. No incident will be “textbook” and in this incident that fast-moving nature meant that the communication piece was not ideal, but the most important thing, the safety of staff and students, was done to the highest standard. We commend our staff on their quick, calm thinking. 

For details of the incident, see below. 

Jeremy Decker

Superintendent

Windsor Unified School District