Last Spring, the campus community tragically lost Lucas Lee ’25 to suicide. Since then, safety netting has been installed in the stairwells of Gelb Science Center (Gelb) and Pan Athletic Center (Pan), and will be installed in the Phelps Stadium tower, the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) front stairwell, and an outdoor section of the Snyder Center (Snyder), according to Head of School Raynard Kington.
Kington declined a request for an interview, but sent an email statement on behalf of the Senior Administrative Council. Kington contextualized the change and expressed regret for the lack of advanced communication to the Andover community.
“Working with experts in building safety over the past several months, we reviewed our facilities to determine whether any changes would enhance community safety. As a result, we have implemented several new safety measures, including the installation of netting in places such as Gelb and Pan stairwells,” Kington wrote in an email to The Phillipian. “We intended to install the netting before the start of the school year, but supply chain difficulties made that impossible.”
Kington continued, “I am sorry that we did not communicate in advance about these changes. Please trust that these projects were initiated with the safety of our campus community foremost in mind.”
Evan DeMayo ’26 acknowledged the netting’s purpose while recognizing its emotional impact.
“The intent behind the netting is pretty clear. [It’s] to protect the student body. Although, the emotional weight is harder to ignore. For many, seeing nets [in] spaces where we study, where we live and gather, transforms familiar places into reminders of vulnerability and tragedy,” said DeMayo.
According to the Harvard Means Project, suicide rates decline when lethal means are made less available. Ellen Utley, MD, Senior Clinical Advisor at Jed Foundation (JED), noted the role netting has in protecting those who are most vulnerable.
“It is important to see the netting as a message of hope. When we take measures to protect the most vulnerable in our communities, we’re raising the collective commitment to care and compassion in all of us. We would not ask a person with a cast on their leg to walk without crutches. Similarly, we are not asking a person who is struggling with thoughts of suicide to avoid tragedy on their own,” wrote Utley.
Utley continued, “The only way to prevent suicide is to remove the means for taking one’s life — which is what netting, safe storage of medications, and other efforts accomplish. The other critical thing, which is JED’s work with Andover, is to infuse and nurture a campus-wide culture of care and compassion. More than any other factor, a sense of community and belonging is where the healing and thriving as a community begins.”
Some community members have expressed that the netting should serve as just one part of a larger discussion on student support. Susan Esty, Assistant Head of School for Residential Life and Dean of Students, mentioned the administration’s commitment to launching broader efforts to address student support.
“We are committed to communicating more frequently with students as we look to enhance community connections, student supports, and practices that ensure student safety. The netting in Gelb is only one part of a larger effort that we will continue across the school year. We plan to invite students to share their thoughts about what else we can be doing sometime in the near future,” wrote Esty in an email to The Phillipian.
