Danville District 118 School Superintendent Dr. Alicia Geddis says she is very grateful for the quick response following Friday evening’s shootings outside Champaign Central High School. Dr. Geddis praised both the Danville and Champaign staff and coaches during a meeting with the media today (Monday, December 11, 2017). She noted Champaign Central had a crisis plan in place ‘’and was able to move our kids to a safe location very quickly.’’ Danville District 118 has a similar crisis plan, and ironically had just conducted meetings to discuss it within the past two weeks.
Champaign Police are still looking for the suspect or suspects that fired the shots Friday evening wounding three young females. All were released following treatment…including a 15-year-old Danville High School student.
Dr. Geddis announced that Tuesday’s Danville High School girls basketball game at Champaign Centennial High has been postponed. She says both schools thought it was best to postpone the game until police have had an opportunity to conduct their investigation into Friday’s shootings.
Dr. Geddis and John Hart, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, both said they feel students attending Danville High School are safe. But Hart added they will continue to look at it as they develop future crisis plans. Dr. Geddis added that it was ‘’nice how Danville pulled together’’ after word got out about what had happened following Friday’s game. Members of the District 118 Crisis team were waiting along with a lot of parents and others at Danville High School when the cheerleader and team busses arrived back at DHS following the incident. The two administrators said it was not that they felt there was a threat – it was more for support for the coaches and students. Members of the Crisis Team include social workers, counselors and others, including Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Dr. Elizabeth Yacobi. She missed the media meeting Monday because she was at Danville High School with the Crisis Team to offer support for any students or staff members who may have been traumatized by the shootings.
And Dr. Gaddis noted ‘’we complain about cell phones a lot.’’ But she says it was nice to have a lot of parents at DHS Friday night to greet the buses when they returned. Superintendent Gaddis added that ‘’we’re definitely cooperating with them and they are cooperating with us’’ as Champaign Police and school officials continue their investigation into the incident.
[Story posted by Bill Pickett on December 11, 2017.]
