Noblesville Schools issued a statement on Thursday that included an update on Ella Whistler, counseling for students and staff, along with continued evaluation of school safety:
“West students and staff returned to school yesterday and are focusing this week on counseling and team building. We so appreciate the care from the community for our staff and students and have really felt your love and support.
We are happy to share that injured student Ella Whistler’s parents issued a statement that she is now in stable condition. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time for them.
Counseling services are still available for all district staff, students and parents. Please contact your school counselor if you would like more details.
We have received a tremendous outpouring from parents, the community and even national groups wanting to launch safety fundraisers, advocating for specific safety systems, volunteering to join safety groups, wanting to meet with leadership to discuss safety procedures, wanting to host events at our schools, and more.
Please know that we appreciate all this concern and support. Right now, we are focused on ensuring students and staff are receiving the emotional support they need, and that all district students successfully finish out the school year, including next week’s graduation.
We are also still in the process of investigating last week’s incident. As is our standard practice following any incident, we will thoroughly examine and evaluate our safety protocols. Our initial review shows that administrators, teachers and students followed our safety procedures that we practice regularly.
As you know, Noblesville Schools works closely with law enforcement experts. Any decisions regarding modifications to our safety practices will be evaluated through our school safety committee and will be based on what our law enforcement partners and school safety specialists recommend.
We appreciate your patience in giving us the needed time to evaluate this incident and any proposed changes. We will be scheduling another public safety forum over the summer in collaboration with law enforcement and will be sharing more information on this going forward.”