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Nearly a month after the Riverbend High School graduation that barred parents with tickets from the ceremony, school and county officials have issued their apologies
Date published: 7/2/2008 By KAREN BOLIPATA
KAREN BOLIPATA
School and county officials have issued apologies nearly a month after the Riverbend High School graduation that barred parents with tickets from the ceremony. Spotsylvania County School Board members and Superintendent Jerry Hill addressed two parents who spoke at Monday night's meeting. "My heart goes out to you," said board member Ray Lora. "You don't deserve what has happened to you." Board members Amanda Blalock and James Gillespie echoed Lora's remarks. Moments before, Maria Martin told the board, "If I do something wrong, I apologize and try to make up for what I did. What is being done for this mess?" In a press release issued last week, County Administrator Randy Wheeler said county staff did not appropriately address overcrowding concerns at the event. "I'm acknowledging the fact that what happened was truly regrettable, that we had some role in that, and I take responsibility for that, and I'm sorry," Wheeler said in a recent interview. He declined to name the assistant fire marshal Hill has said closed the doors without consulting school officials. The county is still looking into the matter in an investigation that's expected to conclude this week, Wheeler said. According to the press release, Fire Chief Chris Eudailey and Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management staff plan to meet this summer with all five high-school principals to discuss next year's ceremonies. Two weeks before graduation next year, fire personnel will meet with school administrators to go over the seating plan and review capacity. At least one hour prior to the event, county staff will walk through the building with school personnel. Karen Bolipata 540/374-5418
The FM’s are there to make sure the sponsor abides by the rated capacity as established by the design engineers.Aisles, walkways, doorways, and all points of egress must remain unobstructed.If this is not done by the organization responsible for the event (RHS) they are legally bound to take any action necessary to insure public safety. RHS should have provided ushers to ask people to move over and make room. So, Biffer, if your house catches fire let’s hope they aren’t busy handing out plastic hats!
if the school admin is responsible for crowd control, then
why in creation are fire officials there at all? What are they
responsible for, checking the extinguishers? handing out
those plastic firefighter hats? the fire dept posts the
capacity limits on a room, they are charged with monitoring
and enforcing the use of a space like this one, and so for
the love of @*$(% can they please learn how to do so, in a
way that doesn't require them to shut down the event
WHEN THERE IS NO ACTUAL OVERCROWDING.
what, exactly, was the public safety threat that left this fire
marshal with only one option - locking out ticket-holding
parents. TICKET-HOLDING PARENTS. what, exactly, was
the threat to public safety? I'm so freakin' tired of seeing
that tired old excuse waved around. If you're going to wave
it, you better have some real examples. Something more
than people spreading out too much in the stands. Good
grief. Ask them to scoot together. Problem solved, fire chief.
.
Parents deserve to see their children graduate. Spotsy schools and fire marshals please learn from the lesson and don't do it again. Thank you for acknowledging the mistake and the problem it caused.
The fact is that the school is responsible for all crowd control. A responsibility they obviously did not take seriously. The fire marshal was there because of issues pertaining to public safety. If the event was so unorganized that the fire marshal felt public safety was at issue, it was his responsibility to stop it from getting worse. If anyone should apologize, it is the principal, whose lack of leadership is the root of the problem. A good leader anticipates problems and has a plan to avert them before
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