She was sitting atop the monkey bars with her feet dangling down when a seventh grade boy pulled her down by her legs resulting in her falling from the top, landing on her arm and hitting her head. Fowler, 7, was rushed to the emergency room, where she had a seizure and was later transported to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines. Fowler also suffered two broken bones in the fall.

“Loveah is doing fairly well or as good as expected,” said her mother, Jordana Fowler. “Loveah is autistic and suffers with extreme sensory issues so this has been a bit of a struggle and an adjustment.”

But Fowler’s injury isn’t the only incident to happen recently after school hours at the elementary school at 1620 Sixth Ave. N., which is why Duncombe Elementary Principal Ryan Flaherty has decided to padlock the playground when it’s not in use by the school.

“For the past two to three weeks, negative issues have happened at the Duncombe playground resulting in law enforcement being called, children being injured and vandalism happening to the school,” said Flaherty. “Each time one of these incidents took place, Roger Porter, director of safety, and myself consulted on how to handle each incident and discussed the solution of locking the playground. Once we realized that the patrons who were using Duncombe playground the way it was intended to be used had stopped going there and purposefully avoided it because of the negative actions of others, that accelerated our decision.”

-Messenbger photo by Kelli Bloomquist
Playground rules are posted outside of the Duncombe Elementary School playground. But the fence surrounding that playground will remain locked after school hours following multiple incidents that led to injury.

With the playground gates now padlocked after school hours and on weekends, Flaherty hopes the incidents will lessen. The playground remains open for recess each school day while staff is supervising, but will be used exclusively for Duncombe students.

“This decision was not taken lightly nor made in haste, but rather after a long and grueling period of reacting to negative events happening daily at the Duncombe playground,” said Flaherty. ” While locking the playground does not erase negative behaviors, it will send a message that those types of negative actions are not allowed on our school grounds. I acknowledge we have security cameras to help identify some of the things that happen. However, I am no longer willing to respond after the fact of these things happening. It is time to take a proactive step and remove these actions and behaviors from our campus.”

Due to the incidents of injury and vandalism on the playground, Flaherty and Porter have also been working with local law enforcement, including on Loveah Fowler’s assault.

“Fort Dodge UnityPoint called law enforcement right away and I spoke with an officer that evening before she was transferred out,” said Jordana Fowler of her daughter’s incident on April 16. “The officer said that we would most likely have to prove that it was done intentionally. Right away I called Mr. Flaherty to let him know what had happened and asked him if he could pull camera footage. He was very helpful and was able to go directly to the time frame and pull that footage.”

That security camera footage, according to Jordana Fowler, will be given to the Webster County Attorney’s Office as she hopes the teen who pulled her daughter from the monkey bars is charged with willful injury. She said she also plans to file a lawsuit against the family for Loveah’s medical bills as her insurance will not cover it given that it was caused by another person.

“For me, it’s the fact that this was a 14-year-old child that knows right from wrong and still thought it was a smart idea to pull someone off the monkey bars,” said Jordana Fowler. “As parents we need to take accountability for our children’s actions. All children are taught to keep their hands to themselves. I want complete justice for my daughter who is suffering with two broken bones. It could have been way worse than the broken bones and a seizure.”