Schools

Goal is to Return to 'Some Sort of Normalcy' at Danvers High

Local officials say classes will resume Friday after Danvers High as the community tries to get back to where it was before Tuesday.

"We'll never recover from the loss of Colleen, but we want to get this community and this school back to some sort of normalcy," Danvers Police Chief Neil Ouellette told reporters Thursday night at a press conference outside Danvers High School.

School will be open again at Danvers High Friday with time allotted for administrators to speak with students before resuming a regular day of classes.

Except for the second-floor bathroom where high school math teacher Colleen Ritzer was attacked and murdered, the entire building will be open. The bathroom will not reopened in the foreseeable future.

Ouellette said the past two days since Ritzer's death has been an ongoing effort to return to a sense of normalcy for students and staff -- both at school and at home -- and that has taken a lot of collaboration and hard work.

Ritzer was allegedly killed by one of her students, Philip Chism, on Tuesday.

Ouellette and Schools Superintendent Lisa Dana made brief statements Thursday, following an hourlong informational meeting with high school parents. Dana said around 1,000 parents attended that session.

Neither she nor Ouellette indicated what was discussed at the meeting, although Dana characterized that session, interactions with students earlier in the day and planning efforts between administrators and teachers as a "huge step forward" for the high school community that day.

Ouellette noted faith-based organizations also attended the meeting with parents.

"That shows the dedication and commitment from this community and those parents to get those children back in this school system so that they can learn and have a healthy and safe learning environment," he said.

Dana said more than 300 students and their families visited the school earlier in the day to meet with grief counselors.

"As classes resume tomorrow, we will continue to support our faculty and students as they cope with the loss of a truly inspiring teacher, Colleen Ritzer," said Dana. "We extend our heartfelt condolences to Colleen's family."

Ouellette also made sure to thank the School Threat Response Assessment System (STARS) team from the North Eastern Municipal Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) for providing invaluable aid this week.

He said the team -- officers, crisis counselors, school administrators and firefighters -- has been in Danvers around the clock.

"They are recognized nationally for their response to school violence incidents. Their help and direction through this process has been unbelievable in trying to get the students back on track," he said.

As expected, Ouellette did not comment on the criminal investigation and said any further details and information will come from the district attorney's office.

He did respond to a question on school safety, given the fact that Ritzer was most likely killed at a time when other students and staff were still in the building.

Ouellette said school is still an open concept -- people come and go in the afternoon for sports, clubs and other after-school activities and events. He said the building, which was just majorly renovated, does have an advanced security system, which is far advanced from what previously existed.

"We continuously monitor school safety issues...and continuously improve safety measures. We will certainly be looking forward, reviewing those policies to see if there's anything we could change and improve in relation to this incident," he said.

"We do critical...reviews in any major incident so clearly we'll be doing that in this situation," he said.


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