Parents Want Officers in Every School After Recent Threats, Richland District 2 Ensures Safety

RICHLAND COUNTY, SC (WOLO)- After the tragic school shooting in Florida there has been a number of threats made to schools across the Midlands.

Richland District 2 Superintendent says that the district is doing what they can to keep kids safe.

On Tuesday, parents took to social media to warn others about a threat made to Richland Northeast. This on the heels of a number of threats being investigated in the Midlands.

“I don’t have the luxury to assume a threat is not real or that it’s a joke,” Superintendent Dr.Baron Davis said.

Just last week a teen was arrested for threatening to “shoot up” Westwood High School. Another post on social media from Richland Northeast shows there maybe another copycat. In this type of climate, the district sent out a letter to parents.

“It talks about being vigilant, and us doing our protocols to make sure our facilities are safe and secure,” Davis said. “Also encouraging them if they see anything, to say something to us.”

In a letter, Richland 2 Black Parents Association demanded that a resource officer be placed in every school in the district.

“The recent tragedy that has unfolded in Florida is yet another reminder of how vulnerable our schools, students and teachers are when it comes to school violence. Just in the last 2 weeks and since the shooting in Florida we have experienced our own incidents of violence and threats at Jackson Creek, Blythewood High, and Westwood High In our own School District, Richland School District 2. And while our high schools have school resource officers that are there to protect our students, our elementary schools DO NOT have their own school resource officers. We are calling upon Richland School District 2 to follow the same course as Richland School District 1 and Lexington-Richland 5 and place a school resource officer in every school in the district.

While we recognize this is not the panacea for quelling school violence for our school district, we do acknowledge that no school in Richland School District 2 should be without a modicum of protection. We also stand by our insistence that the school resource officers duties should be limited to the protection of the campus and not to the policing of the students, or the engagement in administrative duties of a school. We urge the board and the administration to move on placing a school resource officer in every school in the district for the protection of our students, and we support the district moving with all deliberate speed to do so. 

Comprehensive school safety should also include the securing of our school entrances during and after school. Access to school buildings needs to be via a buzzer system where those approaching a facility have to be granted access. These are measures that are already in place in neighboring districts. As a follow up, research has shown that many of these school incidences are the result of the actions of disgruntled students. This speaks to a need for us to develop a clinical solution and protocols that facilitates resources and actions that proactively addresses the mental health of students; targets restorative services for those identified as at-risk of taking these actions, and more aggressive protocols for dealing with the issue of bullying that still unfortunately plagues the social interactions of our students.”

“We have a plan in place to make sure every school is monitored and there is a resource officer and a protocol designed for a resource officer to report to a school that may not have one,” Davis said. “We implemented mandatory active shooter drills for every school to participate or have an active school drill twice a year.”

The district wants parents who have concerns to contact them personally.