District: Journalists testing campuses' safety warned after entering Arkansas schools without permission

Two journalists were reportedly warned after they, in an effort to report on safety measures, entered north-central Arkansas schools without following procedure.

Searcy Daily Citizen Editor Steve Watts said the pair — Tracy Whitaker and Jeff Lewis — had gone to Searcy High School as well as Riverview High School "for the purpose of testing whether the schools' security measures would work."

"As a watchdog for the community, the newspaper believes that doing this without informing the school districts was important to truly, independently test whether the schools' measures are keeping students safe," Watts said in a statement.

Searcy School District spokeswoman Betsy Bailey said in a statement Wednesday that the pair's entry into the schools was in violation of visitor protocol.

One reporter entered Searcy High School's main building without signing in during instruction time when all classroom doors were locked and safely secured, according to the district. Within two minutes, that journalist was stopped by a teacher, Bailey said.

“[The] Searcy School District is not interested in an undercover operation for the benefit of a news story as the safety and education of our students and employees are our only concerns,” Bailey said.

In a statement, the Searcy Police Department said that if that reporter is caught on campus without the district’s permission, she would be “subject to arrest.”

“We will do the same for anyone who chooses to enter our campuses without following proper procedure,” Bailey said.

In an email chain obtained by Arkansas Online through a Freedom of Information Act request, Whitaker asked Bailey on Monday if it was possible to coordinate a “walk into some schools” to “see what happens if we just ponder around.”

“Of course, we’d like for school personnel [to] not be 'tipped off’ if we can arrange this,” Whitaker said. “What do you think? We just want to see what happens.”

Bailey replied that the “proper campus check-in and check-out procedure” must be followed.

Whitaker in an email dated Wednesday told Bailey that she was able to “wander the halls” for several minutes before being caught.

The reporter said she later had a meeting with the school’s principal, assistant principal and the school resource officer.

The Searcy School District has been engaged in safety assessments to add security measures after recent gun violence, the spokeswoman noted in the statement, adding that those results will be made known in the “coming days.”

Attempts to reach Bailey for comment Thursday morning were not immediately successful. The district had canceled classes that day because of flooding.

Upcoming Events