Park Problems

On Nov. 3, the police department and Highland received reports of shots being fired at Sugarhouse Park.
After the school was put into secure mode, the school resource officers and administration investigate the reports. The suspects were two Highland students who had gotten into a fight. Highland’s security team was able to quickly identify the students involved and remove the weapon, but not before it made its way into the school.
Although the administration concluded that there was no intent on using the weapon, the fact remains that it was in the building.
And it all started in Sugarhouse Park.
A one-minute walk from Highland’s main doors and you will find yourself off school property and at Sugarhouse Park. What seems like an outdoor escape, perfect for a quick picnic lunch or walk during a free period, has caused numerous issues at Highland.
This area being the closest off campus spot tends to lend itself to activities that are not condoned by the Highland administration. But many students still find themselves wandering over to the park during school hours.
“We haven’t really seen any positive behaviors happening at the park during school hours,” Highland principal Jeremy Chatterton said.
The main issues that the administration have to deal with are students vaping, students selling and buying vapes, and smoking marijuana. Reports of weapons at the park is not common, but fighting is also a concern. One of Highland’s school resource officers, Grace Maldanado, has received multiple reports of students bothering other citizens in the park.
“It’s a hot zone for kids to go over there and do things they are not supposed to do,” Maldanado said. “It gives kids an easy way to not go to school.”
The incident involving the gun happened during school hours. Sugarhouse Park created a space where there were no adults nearby to get involved and it allowed these students to escalate the situation.
“Safety’s the first thing we have to get right and one of the hardest things to get right, especially when guns are so plentiful,” Salt Lake City School District superintendent Dr. Liz Grant said.
Although this type of situation is cause for concern, Highland’s security team was on top of it right away and handled it quickly.
“We have a really fantastic team that usually knows what’s going on before anything’s going on,” Chatterton said.
Highland has two SROs who are fully trained police officers. They are Tyler Venema and Maldonado. In addition to having jurisdiction over the school, they also can deal with issues at the park. But because their main job is keeping the students at Highland safe, they spend more time on campus than off it.
“It has happened in the past where kids create a distraction [at the park], but then they are doing something somewhere else,” Maldonado said.
Chatterton is aware of the dangers that can happen at the park, even for kids who just want a place to walk or talk with friends during lunch. He has urged students to not go to the park during morning announcements, but Highland is an open campus, so students have the right to leave during lunch.
“I can almost guarantee that if students are here in the building, going to class, being where their supposed to be, they are going to be safe,” Chatterton said.
Highland along with the other high schools in Salt Lake City School district are open campuses. The superintendent Dr. Liz Grant believes that this may not be the safest choice for schools.
“I keep floating the idea every once and a while, maybe we should close our campuses,” Grant said.
While this could help with safety concerns, Grant knows that if she was to bring up an official policy, she would receive a lot of negative feedback from these high school communities. For now, schools are doing everything they can to keep their students safe in urban communities, a unique challenge to Salt Lake City schools.
In the Sugarhouse area overall, the most common crimes committed are theft related, with vehicle break-ins as the most common crime committed in the neighborhoods surrounding Highland, according to SLC Police Department’s crime map page.
This could be concerning for some students because many will have to park in the neighborhoods when Highlands main lot goes under construction in February.
While the park does provide an outdoor environment for families it also poses safety issues for Highland students and staff.
“Be where you are supposed to be, not in the park,” Chatterton said.