NEWPORT NEWS, Va.— Congressman Bobby Scott (D- Va.) hosted a roundtable Tuesday on school safety. A key point was how to prevent violence inside schools.
The meeting comes nearly two weeks since the tragedy at Richneck Elementary, where police said a 6-year-old shot his 1st-grade teacher.
"I am concerned about our community," said a roundtable attendee.
Those concerns echo among families that call Hampton roads home.
"We're all very well aware of the toll that gun violence has cost on the family and community."
There are still many questions following the Richneck Elem. shooting, including "why?"
"How does a 6-year-old get a gun?" said Congressman Bobby Scott.
It led Congressman Bobby Scott to host Tuesday's roundtable on school safety.
"What we want to do today was to present the fact that there's significance evidence and research to show effective strategies that can be used to reduce the incidents of school shootings," said Scott.
The most recent shooting was at Richneck Elementary, but in 2021, there were two others at Heritage High School and in a parking lot outside Menchville High School.
Following the Richneck Elementary shooting, the Newport News school board announced the district would be buying metal detectors for every school. But, Congressman Scott believes more needs to be done than just the school district buying metal detectors.
"You could've hired school counselors, coaches, after-school programs, could've set up a school ban," he said. "There's a lot of things you could've done with the money and there's no evidence that shows that these things work."
The Newport News school board said they secured 90 metal detectors to be placed inside of all NNPS schools.
Many researchers, advocates and stakeholders believe, however, more investments need to be made in mental health in order to minimize crime.
Dr. Jim Freeman, the director of the Social Movement Support Lab, also stressed the importance of investing in building healthy spaces for children.
"Violence in schools is a function of violence in the community," said Scott, raising concerns about the steps going forward for the Richneck families.
"We're continuing to hire additional security officers so that we will be able to manage this whole metal detector, entering the building process," said Newport News Schools Superintendent Dr. George Parker III. "I don't want teachers to have to be pulled and everyone else to search students in the morning so we're going to have additional staff in order to mandate that process."
Dr. Parker also said a big problem within NNPS right now is the lack of mental health counselors for students with extreme behaviors, so they're looking to hire more behavior specialists to address issues in school.
