Romoland District: 'Increased security' at Ethan A. Chase

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Romoland School District administrators said that additional security measures were taken at Ethan A. Chase Middle School today – a day after a 13-year-old student was arrested in connection with an assault on another student.

A statement from superintendent Trevor Painton’s office said the following:

“An increased campus security presence has been provided to the school site. Understandably, the display of violence upsets our entire community. It is important to stress with our students that violence will not be tolerated. Harsh words and insults are the catalysts for most confrontations. All of us have a responsibility to prevent violent situations by teaching non-violent problem-solving.

“We appreciate our community’s continued support.”

Responses to questions from Menifee 24/7 did not address how many additional supervisors were on site today, or how close the nearest campus supervisor was to Monday’s incident, which occurred in the outdoor lunch shelter during a morning nutrition break. A video circulating on social media shows a student walk up to a student – who is said to be autistic – and throw him to the ground, then hitting him in the face several times.

“After leaving campus, one of the students involved was taken to the hospital by their family for a medical evaluation,” the statement from the district read. “The incident was then reported to the Menifee Police Department (MPD) and an arrest was made on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. The MPD investigation is currently ongoing.”

Menifee PD Captain Dave Gutierrez on Tuesday night described “moderate injuries” to the face of the injured student. There has been no update on his condition. The suspect was transported to Riverside Juvenile Hall. No other details about his status have been released.

According to the Romoland School District email to Menifee 24/7, “Campus supervisors and administrators circulate the nutrition break campus locations to monitor students. There are five campus supervisors with varying shift schedules on campus each day.

The statement also disputed a comment on social media that Ethan A. Chase security personnel had requested additional supervisors on site and that the request was denied.

“To support the start of the new school year, extra hours had been assigned to campus supervisors based on the needs of the school site at the time,” said the statement, which added, “Authorities have been contacted in the past regarding increased supervision at [Discovery] Park. School administrators have been at the park after school several times a week.”

The district has two full-time counselors and a full-time school-based mental health therapist on site to support all students, according to the statement.

High schools in the Perris Union High School District have up to 10 campus supervisors assigned to each campus, according to deputy superintendent Candace Reines. She confirmed that PUHSD had a school resource officer from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department on high school campuses until June 2020, when the Menifee Police Department took over law enforcement in Menifee.

Reines said the district has had discussions with the Menifee PD about hiring school resource officers to return to high school campuses. Similar discussions have taken place between Menifee PD and the Menifee Union School District, according to public information officer Betti Cadmus. Romoland District has not had such discussions, Gutierrez said.

Cadmus said, “There was discussion last year, but no decisions were reached.” She said multiple campus supervisors are on site at each middle school in MUSD.