Parents call on school system to increase security after stabbing in Meadowbrook

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) – Chesterfield County Schools are looking to increase their security measures after a student was stabbed during a fight at Meadowbrook High just days ago.

They are considering equipping schools with gun scanners.

It’s a safety measure that both Richmond and Henrico schools implemented earlier this year.

“My son and daughter both graduated from Meadowbrook and there wasn’t much concern about safety at the time. “You never heard of people bringing guns to school and stuff like that,” Martha Payne said.

Payne says she was shocked to hear last week that a student at Meadowbrook High had been stabbed.

“I think in many cases these kids, especially the younger ones, don’t really realize how dangerous it is,” Payne said.

Now she believes more security measures should be put in place to catch weapons before they can be used.

“If they have something like that, you know, some kind of metal detector or something like that, it would really help a lot of kids not be so afraid of going to school,” Payne said.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Assistant Director of Safety and Security Timothy Adams said they are now looking into gun scanners after visiting neighboring school districts that have them.

At the moment they are determining the support costs.

“If there is an identified problem, parents need to go to the school and discuss it,” Anjeana Epps said. “Parents need to go to the school and see what’s going on; If your children are being bullied, stand up for them, be their advocates so we can fix some of these problems before it gets to that point.”

Epps said the gun scanners need to be in place to provide reassurance to students, teachers and parents.

“I believe that the medical detectors or the weapons detectors or whatever you call them are absolutely necessary,” Epps said. “I don’t think it’s going to stop everything, but it’s absolutely necessary.”

The district regularly evaluates safety procedures and protocols in schools.

In a statement, spokesman Shawn Smith said:

“The Chesterfield County School Board and school division leadership are committed to regularly evaluating and improving safety procedures and protocols in our schools. This includes items such as clear backpacks, weapon detection systems and door alarms. All of these things were evaluated prior to the Oct. 1 incident at Meadowbrook High School. Our board members and our leaders are having direct conversations about strengthening safety measures, and we are listening to and considering the feedback, questions and concerns we receive from families and community members. At the September school board meeting, interim superintendent Dr. John Murray said school division leadership has begun evaluating the possible implementation of weapon detection systems. Since then, school division leadership has conducted visits to other school systems to see firsthand how weapon detection systems work. Additionally, the school division has been working with providers who specialize in this area to consider next steps. We will have more information over the next few weeks as we gather data, feedback and input on the feasibility of these types of systems and what implementation would look like.”

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