Post updated at 7:35 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29:
A small fire in the designated girls’ locker room at Lawrence High School on Monday caused an evacuation, and some parents are upset with the communication, or lack thereof, from the school.
District spokesperson Jake Potter said there was a small, contained fire in the locker room found shortly before 11:30 a.m. Monday and that Lawrence-Douglas County Fire-Medical was dispatched. Staff and students evacuated, and no one was injured.
According to LDCFM’s PulsePoint app, firefighters were dispatched to the scene at 11:14 a.m. Monday.
The first alert families received was at 12:04 p.m., more than 45 minutes later. LHS Principal Quentin Rials sent a message on ParentSquare, the district’s communication platform, that made no mention of an evacuation or fire occurring but gave instructions for reentering the building.
Assistant Principal Mike Gillman sent a message with the modified schedule for the rest of the day at 1:24 p.m., still not mentioning the fire. At 1:38 p.m., more than two hours after firefighters were dispatched to the school, Rials sent another message explaining the fire and evacuation.
Some parents voiced concerns about the incident and how the communication about it was handled.
Some said there were boys who had been in class in the weights room during the evacuation who had to go shirtless. The district did not respond by the time of publication Monday to follow-up questions, including if there was an attempt to locate adequate clothing for those students.
Potter said officials gave an all-clear to reenter the building prior to 1 p.m., and students reported to their fifth period classes upon their return.
Students whose classes were in the world languages, physical education, health and arts classrooms were kept in the auditorium upon reentering the building because of lingering air quality issues in those rooms. Some were reportedly unable to access belongings left behind in those rooms.
All students received modified lunch service, and scheduling adjustments were made for the remainder of the day.
The locker room is not currently accessible while the source of the fire is being investigated, Potter said. Investigators remained on the scene as of around 7:30 p.m. Monday.
Additionally, an AI-generated photo of the building up in flames was spreading Monday but was not an accurate depiction of the scene.
Note: This post has been updated to clarify times and that the first notification to parents went out about 45 minutes after the fire was reported to dispatch, according to LDCFM records.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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