Fayetteville School District response continues following Vandergriff tragedy

NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Matthew Wendt, Fayetteville Public Schools superintendent, speaks Tuesday at the administration building on an update on a Vandergriff Elementary School student's drowning last week.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Matthew Wendt, Fayetteville Public Schools superintendent, speaks Tuesday at the administration building on an update on a Vandergriff Elementary School student's drowning last week.

FAYETTEVILLE -- School District officials are auditing all campuses to determine where additional fencing is needed following last week's death of a first-grader, the superintendent said Tuesday.

The district continues to investigate the circumstances of 6-year-old Adron Benton leaving the Vandergriff Elementary School campus during a recess around 2 p.m. March 7 and being found unresponsive in a swimming pool at a home adjacent to the campus, Superintendent Matthew Wendt said during a news conference.

"This is not supposed to happen," Wendt said. "I want parents to know and feel their child is safe when they come to this School District -- whatever campus they're on."

Wendt said he intends to ensure any time a child is outside of a school building for recess, a classroom trip or a project they are protected from private property, parking lots and roads.

"We're acting swiftly with the intent to ensure that this situation and any related situation of a child being able to leave school property never happens again," Wendt said.

Vandergriff has some fencing but a fence doesn't border the entire campus, Wendt said.

"That will change," he said.

Additional fencing will be installed around the Vandergriff campus over spring break and is set to finish by the time students return March 27.

[EMAIL UPDATES: Get free breaking news updates and daily newsletters with top headlines delivered to your inbox]

The five classroom aides supervising the playground are on a paid leave of absence that began within 24 hours of the incident, Wendt said. The leaves of absence follow district protocols, he said. The staff members have been provided with services from Ozark Guidance.

"It's in their best interest, and it is in our best interest," Wendt said.

The staff's response when Adron disappeared included calling 911, doing a search, finding the boy, pulling him from the pool and giving aid.

Police responded to two related calls about 2:45 p.m. that day. The boy was taken to Washington Regional Medical Center and then to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, where he died March 8, officials said. His body was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy.

Police also continue to investigate and are waiting for results from the crime lab, department spokesman Sgt. Craig Stout said.

Police have responded to three other calls for a child missing from Vandergriff within the past five years, Stout said. The calls, two from 2016 and one from January, were for the same child, but they weren't for Adron, he said. In two of the calls, the child was found within minutes. In one call, the child went to a friend's house, Stout said.

It's not uncommon for schools around the country to have situations where students leave classmates at recess, during a class trip or another supervised event, Wendt said. He said Adron's family is going through an event that has changed their lives forever.

"In this situation, the child left recess from his classmates, from supervision and a tragedy occurred," Wendt said. "I'm so sorry for them."

NW News on 03/15/2017

Upcoming Events