Follow Up Communication Regarding High School Security Incident

 Follow Up Communication Regarding High School Security Incident

Dear Sand Lizard Community,

I want to provide you with an update following my communication yesterday…

1. We learned this afternoon that the suspect was released on bond. The Judge made it clear in his orders he was not to be on or near any school campus or school event in the Dardanelle School District.
2. The Dardanelle Police Department will be increasing their presence in our district along with our School Resource Officers and Commissioned School Security Officers on our campuses.
3. Dardanelle Police and our security personnel are aware of his vehicle and his name. Therefore, we will monitor our campuses to ensure the safety of our students and staff.
4. Please know that our school officials and Dardanelle Police acted immediately upon knowledge of this suspect and his illegal activity on our campus, and he was arrested in Dardanelle on 3rd and Union Street Wednesday morning.
5. We have also learned through police investigation that our students were never threatened by this suspect, but he committed a felony by bringing a gun on our campus.
6. While this has been a learning experience for our district and security team, we are thankful that no students were harmed in this incident. We will continue to improve the way we communicate with our school community. I am grateful for the partnership we have with the Dardanelle Police Department. We are all committed to the safety and security of your students and our staff.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mark Gotcher