FAYETTEVILLE -- The School District plans on installing a fence around the Vandergriff Elementary School playground following the death of 6-year-old Adron Benton earlier this week, according to a letter sent by Elli Ledzinski, Vandergriff PTO president, to families with children at the school.
Adron went missing Tuesday afternoon from the Vandergriff playground and was found unresponsive in the swimming pool of a nearby home. He was taken to Washington Regional Medical Center and then to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, where he died Wednesday, officials said.
Online: http://https://www.…">Benton Memorial Fund
Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs confirmed the boy's identity. The cause of death hasn't been determined, Hobbs said.
The fence will be installed sometime in the next two or three weeks and the district will pay for it, according to the letter.
"I know many of you have emailed me regarding the safety of your student(s), so hopefully this will address your concern," Ledzinski wrote.
Police continue to investigate and await a report from the Arkansas State Crimb Lab, where the child's body was sent for an autopsy, Fayetteville Sgt. Craig Stout said.
"It could take awhile," Stout said.
Fayetteville emergency officials responded to two related calls about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The School District provided counselors through the week for students and staff members
The Vandergriff Parent Teacher Organization started a GoFundMe page to assist Adron's family and to build a memorial at the school for him. The PTO is also planning an event to "honor Adron's memory and mourn as a community," Ledzinski wrote.
Family members have declined comment.
The playground sits on the east side of the school, about 20 yards from the edge of the house at 3390 E. Mission Blvd. The playground doesn't have a fence, and neither does the swimming pool, Stout confirmed.
School District spokesman Alan Wilbourn said fences at school playgrounds vary. Some schools have fences, such as Washington Elementary School that sits in an urban environment near the city's downtown and has an enclosed playground, he said.
The city doesn't require fences or barriers be built around swimming pools at homes. The city adheres to state building codes, which are adopted from standards set by the International Code Council, said Mark Whitaker, the city's building safety director.
The state hasn't adopted several appendices of the international code, one particularly dealing with swimming pools, Whitaker said.
The city could amend its Unified Development Code to require fences around swimming pools, but the requirement would only apply to homes built from that point forward.
Washington County property records for the residence next to Vandergriff show the house was built in 1970 and the swimming pool was built in 2001. Vandergriff opened in 1995.
The home is owned by Hershey and Denise Garner. Hershey Garner didn't return messages Tuesday or Friday.
A homeowner with a swimming pool and no fence could be held liable under the attractive nuisance doctrine of tort law, said Rick Woods with Taylor Law Partners in Fayetteville. The law states anyone with an artificial condition on their property, in this case a pool, and has a reasonable belief a child could be attracted to it and trespass onto the property bears some responsibility to put preventative measures in place, such as a fence, he said.
A School District also bears responsibility for a child's well-being but has sovereign immunity, meaning in most situations the government entity and its employees are immune from lawsuits except under very specific circumstances. Such a case could be submitted to the Arkansas Claims Commission, Woods said.
Marla Williams, education director with the Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas, said insurance companies write their own homeowners policies, but she couldn't think of any company that doesn't require some sort of barrier around a pool. Homeowners aren't required to have insurance unless a mortgage lender requires it, she said.
NW News on 03/11/2017