City’s Safekey policies change after standoff

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.

A gunman's after-hours sprint through a Clark County elementary school has inspired new safety policies for Henderson's Safekey program.

The door to Fay Galloway Elementary School was not locked the afternoon of Jan. 21, allowing Hazekiah Lewis to burst inside -- armed with a handgun -- in search of his ex-girlfriend. There were 27 children taking part in the city's after-school program at the time. No children were hurt and Lewis was shot and killed hours later by police following a standoff outside the school building.

As of Wednesday all school doors must now remain locked during Safekey hours, said Debra Haskell, spokeswoman for Henderson's parks and recreation department, which oversees the program.

In order to gain access a person will have to knock on the door and be recognized by staff through the glass, Haskell said. If a Safekey program is taking place in a room without a window, a new door will be installed with a glass panel, Haskell said.

After running through the school building the gunman went out a side door and then tried to re-enter but it locked behind him, said Dave Epperson, a teacher at Galloway who witnessed the incident.

"That may have saved lives, that he couldn't get back in," Epperson said. "I think we all wish all the doors had been locked to begin with."

There are Safekey programs at 23 elementary schools and five middle schools in Henderson, with activities typically running from 6:45 a.m. to the start of school and from the dismissal bell until 6:30 p.m. While Safekey takes place at school sites the Clark County School District does not oversee the program.

Other changes to the Safekey policies will include adding emergency contact numbers to each child's identification badge so that parents or guardians can be reached quickly even if the children are moved from the Safekey location, Haskell said. Safekey staff members who are not also school employees will be required to familiarize themselves with the layout of the campus and know the location of at least two alternate safe areas, Haskell said.

"Many of the teachers are already doing these things. We're just formalizing the rules," Haskell said.

In fact, Haskell said, the Galloway Safekey staff had conducted a "lockdown" drill with the students the day before the incident with the gunman.

"When the teachers told them to file out in an organized fashion (the kids) knew exactly what that meant," Haskell said.

As for Safekey policies and procedures in other cities, representatives from the programs in North Las Vegas and Las Vegas could not be immediately reached. But Carol Lark, principal of C.P. Squires Elementary School in North Las Vegas, said her school's Safekey program got an extra staff member this week.

"We all heard what happened at Galloway," Lark said.

At Squires the street-side doors are already kept locked in the mornings before class and in the afternoons after school, Lark said. In addition to Safekey, the school has children participating in City Games through the Boys & Girls Club, Lark said.

"There's a lot of activity going on at all time and that means keeping a close eye on who is coming and going," Lark said.