Schools concerned about shooting

GREEN BAY - The shooting on Crooks Street prompted Green Bay Police to lockdown Washington Middle School and East High School Thursday afternoon.

Two public elementary schools, Howe and Sullivan, became aware of the situation and took their own safety measures.

“The police did not necessarily recommend that we lock them down-they didn't have an opinion either way - we left that up to those schools,” said Director of Student Services Barbara Dorff.

Dorff says depending on the situation-- sometimes the district notifies schools regarding a lockdown.

Other times like Thursday it's the police who make the call.

Once she learned of the situation--Dorff spread the word.

“I sent out an informational email to all of our principals in the district. Sometimes for the most part, I would have sent an email-or an informational email would have gone out to private schools. It didn't yesterday. From talking with police - there were no private schools that were in any imminent danger,” said Dorff.

But Bobbie McKeefry, who sends her kids to St. Thomas More School, disagrees.

“Our children deserve the safety of every other child,” said McKeefry.

The parochial school is about 3 blocks south of where the shooting took place.

School officials say they keep their doors locked every school day. But, added that if they had known about the shooting, they might have responded differently. As it was, they dismissed their students on time at 3:15.

That's about the same time the lockdown at Washington was lifted, but that's still no comfort for McKeefry who has filed a complaint with Green Bay Police.

“Several of the children that do go to school there do live right on the other side of Mason and are just three blocks from where the incident happened,” said McKeefry.

The school principal declined an on camera interview, but said he's concerned, and hopes communication will improve. He said he has received an apology from the district.

“When I found out people were upset-I said you know what I'm really sorry that you didn't have this information earlier, and in the future, we'll try to get the information out to everyone,” said Dorff.

Green Bay police reiterated Dorff's point that other schools were in no danger.

“We didn't have that concern-like I said-our track was headed to the north and our experiences are that these people generally don't stay on foot in the area long,” said Captain Todd Thomas,

Another parochial school, St. Paul Lutheran, which is located abut 4 blocks southwest of the shooting says it also did not hear about the incident as it was unfolding.

Officials there say the Green Bay area school district apologized and said it would not happen again.

The district says it plans to meet Saturday morning to talk about how it handled the shooting incident.