09:47 PM CST on Thursday, February 9, 2006

By Carolyn Campbell and Doug Miller / 11 News

There was an alleged sexual assault of a student at a Houston high school Thursday, and there are questions as to whether it could have been prevented.

At about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, an ambulance was called to Westbury High School because a 15-year-old had reportedly been sexually assaulted.

Police are taking her claim seriously and so are some of her fellow students.

KHOU-TV

Bianca Phillips was afraid to go to the restroom.

HISD has not confirmed exactly what happened, but HPD sources said the attack took place in a girls' restroom, allegedly by a male suspect who managed to walk onto campus.

Those sources also said the suspect was seen by several people and even asked to leave.

"Anybody can just come into the school and do anything they want," said student Jasmine Brown.

We're told security here is lax and young people freely come onto campus, whether or not they're students here.

"If you wear a white collar shirt and come up to this school in jeans, you can pass and go here. You know, they don't ask for IDs. They want to enforce it, but the students don't necessarily have to. It's not something they can just really put their foot down and say, 'You have to wear your ID', " said Kristen Thornton.

Of course, anyone who just visits campus is supposed to check in at the principal's office and visitors without passes are supposed to be challenged.

"But keep in mind, also, that these are big, public buildings with parents coming to visit all the time. So it's not a situation where we lock up the building and lock up all the doors. The fire marshall wouldn't let us do that to begin with," said HISD spokesman Terry Abbott.

Several students were not sure what happened, but they were concerned about their safety.

"The security here, it's just like they're here to stop fights and what's going on here, but they not outside, you know? Because people can just come in, I don't feel safe," said Thornton.

"Huh-uh. I got scared. I got so scared that I didn't even want to go to the restroom no more," student Bianca Phillips said.

According to students at the school, they were told that the school staff was going to be in a meeting to discuss the incident.