Lakewood Superintendent Reacts to Chardon School Shooting

“If it can happen in Chardon, it can happen anywhere.”

Jeff Patterson, ’s superintendent, said that Lakewood schools could learn a lot from the shooting at Chardon High School that left two dead on Monday.

“It’s any administrator’s worst nightmare that something like this should happen,” Patterson said. “My heart goes out to that entire community. You send your children to school and you hope that they’ll be safe.”

Patterson said the Lakewood Schools have policies and procedures in place — including a trained staff and a team of security guards who are posted at the school.

“We need to do our due diligence and find out if we can learn from this incident,” Patterson said, noting that the district recently reviewed its policies on safety in the schools. 

Then, the district followed through with training program for staff members, hosted by the .

“We will continue to review and monitor what’s happening there. Once we hear the final report, we will want access to that information, so we can fine-tune our procedures.”

Patterson said the district is working on a message to deliver to students and parents.

“It’s just another reason why we need to encourage students — whether its bullying or threats — that people come forward with that (information) so we can act on it.”