Classes resume at Desert Wind, counselors on hand

Desert Wind Middle School students returned to class as usual Friday morning after having been isolated in lockdown Thursday afternoon when a student told a staff member about a rumor that a gun was in the building. 

A .380 pistol was found and two students were eventually arrested.

Four district counselors were called to the middle school Friday “in case a student or staff want to talk about the situation,” said school district Superintendent Steve Chestnut.

School started Friday with a meeting at which police debriefed staff, he said.

He said in his one-and-a-half-year tenure as superintendent, this is the first such incident that has occurred at the school.

Desert Wind’s Dean of Students Channing Bogle made the decision to announce a lockdown based on information provided by a student, Chestnut said. Staff called the Maricopa Police Department and the lockdown went into effect.

According to district policy, a decision to go into lockdown is a “judgment call by the administrator on site,” he said.

The school went into lockdown at 3:37 p.m. and remained so until police said it was safe for students to leave about 30 minutes later, he said. A lockdown is when students are locked in their classrooms and the lights are turned off.

Police spokesman Ricky Alvarado said Thursday nearby Santa Cruz Elementary School also went into lockdown.

Desert Wind does not have a school resource officer, which typically is a member of the local police department, he said. Maricopa High School has the only SRO in the district at this time.

Starting next year, both district middle schools will each have a full-time school resource officer, he said. The city of Maricopa recently awarded a grant to the district, which will fund the two new positions.

Speaking Friday as a parent of two Desert Wind Middle School students, District Governing Board member Patti Coutre said the school handled the situation well.

“I think as any parent, you worry (in such a situation) to make sure the children are OK, especially your own children,” Coutre said.

She said she asked her children if they felt safe coming back to school this morning and they said they did.

“My daughter was a little shaken when it happened” because when they go into lockdown, students are not allowed to return to get their backpacks, she said. Her daughter felt a little “weird” going to school Friday without her backpack.

“It’s sad that the children involved felt that was a necessary thing to do,” she said, referring to the incident. “We’re happy that no one was hurt.”

MUSD Governing Board President Torri Anderson said she was “impressed  that the students trusted the adults enough to say something – they knew something was not right. Kudos to those students; they were not afraid to speak up.”

Anderson said she was also impressed with the police department’s quick response to the incident.

Chestnut said his highest priority is student safety.

“I have been working hard on this issue since coming to the district,” he said, adding that safety will "continue to be our No. 1 priority."