MBUSD Defends Actions at Town Hall
Apr 09, 2025 05:47AM ● By Jeanne Fratello
(The MBUSD Town Hall on April 7. Photo credit: Joe Franklin.)
At a Monday night town hall, Manhattan Beach school officials defended their handling of a handgun incident - but promised safety and communications reviews - to a crowd of many still-angry parents.
Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent John Bowes said that Manhattan Beach Middle School Principal Luke Olesiuk had followed proper protocol in not calling for a lockdown during the March 19 incident. However, said Bowes, the district would be reviewing its procedures, and was bringing in special safety and crisis communications consultants to recommend any changes that would need to be made.
The district recognizes that it has room to improve, said Bowes, and would be taking time to look at
every step that was taken, examining what could have been done
differently, and scrutinizing all aspects of communications and safety -
including training, decision-making structures, and communications. "We
recognize that every detail matters when it comes to school safety and
trust," said Bowes, promising, "an ongoing commitment to learning, adjusting, and
improving."
"We're approaching this with humility and a clear sense of responsibility," added Bowes.
Timeline, Communications Under Scrutiny
Multiple parents asked to hear a timeline of events on March 19, from when the weapon was discovered, until after the "This is MBMS" event (after 8:00 p.m.), when emails went out to families and staff.
Olesiuk described the situation on March 19 as follows: During the Nutrition period (a mid-morning snack break just after 10:00 a.m.) a staff member
reported to a vice principal that they had heard about a second- or third-hand
discussion about a possible vape or knife in a student's backpack. "This situation
should have been investigated more promptly," acknowledged Olesiuk, adding that he did not know about the situation
until 7th period.
During 7th period, Olesiuk said, a staff
member reported hearing a rumor about knife in a student's backpack. The staff member reported it to a teacher, and then the teacher reported it to Olesiuk. The student was "separated from" the backpack and brought into Olesiuk's office, along with a campus safety staff member. "A rumor of a knife, especially when student is directly under
the supervision of a staff member, is not cause for a lockdown," said Olesiuk. "There was no
mention of a gun until the student disclosed that he had a gun in his
backpack, which I had already secured shortly before the end of 7th
period. The gun was immediately secured and disabled. There was an empty
magazine that did not fit the gun in the backpack. There was no
ammunition found in the gun or in the backpack. At no time was there an
active threat or any indication of additional firearms, the involvement
of any other individuals, or plans to injure or harm anyone else. My
determination was that the situation was contained and that there was no
need to call a lockdown, as there was no imminent threat to the safety
of students, staff, or the campus as a whole."
Added Olesiuk, "The discovery of the
firearm occurred just a few minutes before the end of 7th period [the last period of the day], and I felt that the best decision was to allow students to leave campus. I want to be clear that the decision not to call a lockdown was mine and
mine alone."
MBPD did not arrive on campus until after school had been dismissed, noted Olesiuk, and MBPD then cleared the school area before 5:00 p.m. "Also before 5:00 p.m., we felt we had all of the information from the student, and this led to the decision that 'This is MBMS' could continue as planned."
Olesiuk added that given that the student was identified, was in the office, and the weapon was confiscated, he made the determination that the situation was contained. "This is different from an uncontrolled situation where there may be an additional threat," he said.
Nevertheless, he added, "Communication could have been delivered more quickly, particularly between the end of school and 5:00 p.m." He acknowledged that he should have reached out to staff before 5:00 p.m., and he should have worked more quickly to provide guidance to staff to coordinate common message of support for students.
"While we cannot change the past, I do remain committed to doing better in the future," he said. "Since this incident I have worked to demonstrate and I am continuing to improve my own practices related to communication with staff."
Bowes added, "We want to openly and honestly acknowledge that our communication around this situation could and should have been handled better. We recognize there was a delay in getting information out, and we understand that more detailed information and timely communication was especially important to staff members who needed to be prepared to support students returning to campus the next day. That level of preparation matters, and we fell short in providing it."
Bowes added that it is essential that the information that the school district provides is accurate, and that the intent is never to withhold or delay. He said that the district was exploring ways to improve its ability to send text messages to staff, not relying solely on email, and ensuring that all school sites are aligned with district-wide communications protocols so there is "consistency, clarity, and confidence" in how the district shares information during any kind of emergency. "We learned important lessons from this experience, and we're already putting those lessons into action," he said.
District Equates Lockdown Decision to Redondo Incident
As parents continued to press school officials about the lack of a lockdown, Bowes compared the situation to a similar series of events in Redondo Beach. In December 2023, at Redondo Union High School, over two consecutive days, two separate students brought loaded guns on campus. On the first day, the student was identified and the weapon and the student were contained, and a lockdown did not occur [even] with a loaded firearm, according to Bowes. On the second day, the student with the gun ran, which became an "uncontained situation" and the school called a lockdown.
"Principal Olesiuk followed the protocol. Yes he did, yes he did," said Bowes, responding to protests from the audience. "The protocol says that the principal needs to determine if the situation is contained or not. Principal Olesiuk
determined that situation was contained, contacted MBPD, the student and the
weapon were secured, and our MBPD officers quickly arrived on the scene," he said, adding that it was the
same scenario that Redondo Union High School faced in the first incident in December 2023.
Many parents have demanded more details about the school safety plans, which were approved just a few weeks ago.
Parents are allowed to see school safety plans by making an appointment to visit the school office. In the school office, they will be able to see a redacted plan that does not include all of the details - as a security precaution "so a 'bad actor' does not have access to them," according to Bowes.
Parents will have an opportunity to weigh in on school safety plans in the coming weeks. The board will hear a safety plan update at its meeting on May 7, and will bring a revised plan up in June for approval.
Information Not Sitting Well With Parents
Parents have been vocal about their opposition to the way the situation was handled. A group of parents calling themselves "MBMS Concerned Parents" launched
an effort to keep kids home from school in protest on Friday, March 28, which was a minimum
(partial schedule) day.
The parents had said that keeping their kids home was "a peaceful act of protest in response to the mishandling, lack of transparency, and inadequate support for faculty, staff, and students following the firearm incident at MBMS on 3/19."
Deputy Superintendent Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard said at Monday night's meeting that although attendance for that day was still being finalized, there were approximately 305 students absent that day, putting the total attendance at just under 75%. On a usual school day, attendance is about 90%, said Murakawa-Leopard.Many parents and students have said that following this incident, they have a lack of trust that the school will keep them safe. At the Monday meeting, one parent spoke up on behalf of her 12-year-old daughter. Her daughter told her that she continues to feel unsafe, said the parent. "[The daughter] said, 'The only problem I have is that nobody told me whether I'm safe. I understand that there's privacy and protocols, but nobody said that the
student was no longer a threat,'" said the parent.
To that question, Olesiuk said that he, too, is at the school every day and is personally invested in ensuring that it is a safe place to be. "I put my trust in our students, in our staff, in the policies and procedures that we have in place, that work to create an environment that is as safe as possible," he said. "There is no way to guarantee 100% safety at every single possible moment , but I would also like to consider myself someone that's not looking to put myself in unsafe situations, and so as someone who is attending MBMS every single day and feel comfortable in doing so, that is the assurance that I can give. It's safe for me and it's safe for our students."
"I know it's going to take some time to rebuild the trust; and for some of you we may never get it back," concluded MBUSD Board President Wysh Weinstein. "But that doesn't mean we're going to give up over here. There is always room for improvement when it comes to safety. For the sake of our kids, the only choice we have is to get there together."
Parents who wish to provide comments or suggestions on the issue are encouraged to visit https://www.mbusd.org/suggestions by April 11..
