DCIAA Games Are On With Security

Athletic events at D.C. Public Schools went on as scheduled Friday as the school system implemented temporary measures to provide security at facilities across the city.

The security company for DCPS told the school system in a letter Thursday night that it had gone bankrupt, and immediately closed business. In response, the DCPS Office of School Security and the Metropolitan Police Department collaborated on a joint effort to provide school security until a new provider is brought on, which, according to a DCPS statement, should begin next week.

Early in the day Friday there were concerns that DCPS sports would be postponed because of a lack of security.

At least one H.D. Woodson student said the security presence at his school was noticeably absent.

“It was unbelievable,” Woodson senior Alonzo Russell said while attending Friday night’s Woodson-Friendship Collegiate football game at Eastern High. “There was no security. People just doing whatever they wanted to.”

Russell said throughout the day there were food fights in the cafeteria and students were looting the trophy case by turning off the lights and tossing trophies on to the dark gymnasium floor.