December 17, 2010|By Nick Madigan and Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun
He said that when he found out about the attempted assault on Thursday, "the first thing you want to know is if it was your kid." Komoch said he had initially been relieved to find out that the assault was in the boys' bathroom, only to immediately get angry. "How can someone just walk into a school?" he asked. "No one should be able to get into a school that easily."
Zaroni Blunt, whose son attends Norwood Elementary School, just across the street from Holabird, said that when she heard about the assault, she could not fathom what would have happened had the attack been on a smaller child, who might have been incapable of putting up a defense.
"It's a big, big concern, especially with these little ones right over here," Blunt said. "I just can't imagine."
In an effort to prevent such incidents, Holabird administrators are looking at ways to enhance security at the school, including requiring staff members and teachers to escort all visitors to the office, where they will be asked to explain their presence before being given a visitor's pass.
Herndon said there would be no "systemic review" of security. The district's general guidelines stipulate that visitors to county schools be "directed" to administration offices, which Herndon acknowledged did not necessarily mean that they should be escorted there.
"The county security procedures are working well," he said. "We are satisfied with our security procedures as they are now."
On Thursday evening, Holabird's assistant principal, John E. Huber, sent an e-mail to school employees and teachers advising everyone to be "particularly observant" during arrival and dismissal times and during class changes. "It is then that we are most vulnerable," he wrote. "It is no accident or coincidence that these types of events occur at those times."
Huber instructed staff to "stop people in the hallway whom you do not recognize," to direct visitors to the administration office and to "follow through to see that they get there." He urged staff members and teachers to "take an active role" while on duty. "Stop kids, question them, question adults you might see. When something goes wrong, the first question we are usually asked is, 'Where were the adults?'"
Huber said that if students wished to discuss the matter, teachers should "simply tell them that it was an unfortunate incident" that was "dealt with by the school and the police" and that their parents had been notified.
According to court cases against him, Schleigh has had various addresses in Maryland, West Virginia and South Carolina. After his arrest on Thursday, he told police he lives in the 1100 block of Oak Tree Drive in Havre de Grace, but no one at that address or in several surrounding homes Friday seemed to know him.
He is scheduled for trial Jan. 25 in Wabash District Court in Baltimore on a misdemeanor charge of theft of less than $100. His address on that court document is listed as the 400 block of S. Stricker St. in Southwest Baltimore.
Schleigh was arrested June 11, 2008, and charged with possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Baltimore County District Court records show that he was released on his own recognizance but failed to appear in court Oct. 15, 2008. He was arrested and jailed on $2,500 bail. He posted the bail and was released. Schleigh failed to appear for another court hearing and was jailed again, with bail set at $2,500. He was found not guilty of the charges Aug. 10, 2009. The home address listed in that court file was in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
On July 22, 2009, he pleaded guilty in Baltimore County District Court to trespassing and was sentenced to unsupervised probation and fined $100. His probation ended a year later. His address at the time of his arrest was in the 8600 block of Honeygo Blvd. in Nottingham.
A charge of marijuana possession was dropped by Baltimore City prosecutors on Sept. 10, 2009. His address in that court file was in Nimitz, W.Va.
A previous version of this story gave an incorrect location for South Stricker Street.
nick.madigan@baltsun.com
erica.green@baltsun.com
Baltimore Sun reporters Peter Hermann and Jessica Anderson contributed to this article.
