Car nearly crashes on campus
A car drove onto the steps of Weiler Hall and nearly crashed into the building Tuesday morning.
February 17, 2022
A man unaffiliated with the school entered the upper school campus and nearly crashed into Weiler Hall after lodging his car on stairs leading to the building on Tuesday. After disrupting The (Dis)information Age class, the man cooperated with security and soon left school premises.
The (Dis)information Age student Ava Weinrot ’23 said after Communications Department Head Jim Burns went to investigate a screeching sound outside, the class realized how close the car had come to the building.
“We left the room, I opened the door and right there, there was a car right outside the door,” Weinrot said. “It was on the stairs, and security was crowding around it.”
Security guard Sean Horton said the man ended up on campus after becoming lost in the surrounding neighborhood.
“He thought he was somewhere other than he was,” Horton said. “He came onto campus, and he bypassed security. And when he got halfway between Weiler and Chalmers, he decided he wanted to try to turn around, not realizing that he didn’t have enough space.”
Considering the school’s security measures, The (Dis)information Age student CC Mesa ’22 said she was concerned that the man was able to elude guards. She said this incident was not in keeping with the school’s usual strong security.
“Ever since there was a shooter warning when I was in ninth grade, I had always built up faith in the school’s ability to protect us [because] they protected us from that,” Mesa said. “But this was scary. They said that they were really looking into how he got in, so that assures me.”
Horton said while the school makes a concerted effort to keep the campus secure, blocking entrances completely would create an unwelcoming environment.
“The only thing that would prevent something like that from occurring, someone actually wandering on campus, [is] some sort of guard rail or barrier during school hours, which we don’t condone,” Horton said. “We like having our campus open to our parents, open to the staff [and] open to our citizens. We don’t want to be separated from the public.”
