By Michael Howell
The spur of the moment decision to move the a public meeting on potential Syrian refugee resettlement to the Middle School Auditorium went off without any serious incident. But some fallout occurred afterward, when children went home and told their parents what had happened and parents saw the meeting on the evening news. The school got some calls.
Sheriff Chris Hoffman said that he did get a call from the commissioners about the meeting and planned on attending. But as he drove up, there were already a large number of people in the streets headed towards the Middle School.
“They did not contact me and tell me they were headed there,” said Hoffman. “I assume they contacted the school.”
He said he went there and saw people entering the building and being ushered to the gymnasium. He said he called for more help and went into the gymnasium. He said there were a lot of emotions, but he saw no guns.
“I saw a lot of holsters,” he said, “but I didn’t see any guns. But we were not consulted about the letter and not consulted about the meeting and I simply have no knowledge about contact with the school.”
Hamilton School District Superintendent Tom Korst said that by the time he was made aware of the situation, “the train had already left the station.” He said the principal, who had taken the call from the county, did not realize how many people were coming. He said safety measures were in place to keep the students from commingling with the crowd and there were protocols for foot traffic flow through the building.
“In hindsight, I told Commissioner Burrows that I realized they were in a position and needed some help, but we can’t accommodate these kinds of meetings during the school day,” said Korst. “We are happy to be helpful and want to be good neighbors to local government, but we just can’t do things that are going to disrupt the building and cause people to feel insecure.”
“We got a few calls. I recognize the concerns and probably share it,” Korst said. “It’s not necessary to put our staff or students in that kind of situation and it’s not going to happen again as long as I’m here, unless the board directs me to do otherwise. We want parents to know this will not happen again while I’m here. I took this to heart.”
Commissioner Jeff Burrows said, “Everybody was caught off guard.” He said that he was expecting maybe up to a hundred people and believed the Middle School Auditorium, which they have used in the past, would serve their purposes. He said that he could understand the school’s position that they will not be accommodating crowds like that in the future.
“I wouldn’t expect them to and we will try not to let that happen,” he said.