CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The Chesapeake School Board held its first school board meeting since a Grassfield High School student was arrested for bringing a loaded gun to school three weeks ago.
Grassfield High School leaders said a female student was arrested after a fellow student saw the gun and reported it to an adult at the school. The student with the gun was arrested and is facing a felony charge of possession of a firearm on school property, police said.
Parents and students expressed their concerns about the incident during the meeting.
"For a while, I didn’t feel safe and even now, I’m kind of iffy about going to school. I don’t know who’s bringing what because you can’t see inside everyone’s backpacks," Xahria Martin, a sophomore at Grassfield High School said.
Watch previous coverage: Parents react to student allegedly bringing loaded gun to Chesapeake high school
"Do you all have metal detectors?" News 3's Leondra Head asked Xahria Martin.
"We’ve had them for a while, but they weren’t in use," Xahria Martin responded.
The metal detectors, also known as weapon detection systems, were put in schools in the Chesapeake City Public Schools Division this year. Superintendent Dr. Jared Cotton says the weapon detection systems are in all of the division's high schools.
However, at the meeting, some parents took issue with the fact that the metal detectors weren't in use on the day the student brought the gun to school.
"She wouldn’t have been able to bring the gun in had the metal detectors been in use," Natasha Martin, a Grassfield High School parent said.
Watch related coverage: Student found with gun on Green Run campus will face criminal, disciplinary action, school officials say
“I have two students at Grassfield. When you get a call like that, your heart sinks and you lose it for a second. I know it’s hard to get thousands of kids through metal detector. Can we have discussions on how we can look at safety? My kids are scared,” Amanda Wilson, a Grassfield High School parent said.
So, what is the school district doing to address safety concerns? Leondra spoke to Dr. Cotton to find out.
"Right now, we are randomly doing student checks to deter students from bringing things to school that they shouldn’t," Cotton said.
Dr. Cotton says the incident at Grassfield High School prompted the random checks.
Watch related coverage: Newport News Public Schools use weapons detection, drug-sniffing dogs
Xahria Martin described the process of the random checks: "I got caught in one. My bus was late and we were getting off the bus. We had to wait in line to go through the metal detectors."
She says she would like to see the metal detectors used on a more consistent basis.
"They should have it all the time, not just once a week. It should be every day," Martin said.
When Leondra asked Dr. Cotton if there are plans or discussions to use the weapon detection systems every day, he responded: "There aren’t plans to do that right now. But it doesn’t mean that won’t happen at some point in the future."
So far this year, there have been at least two incidents of students bringing guns into schools in the Chesapeake City Public School Division.
