HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — School districts on both sides of the water are reporting threats against their buildings, and multiple incidents involving weapons, in the last seven days.
Beginning Feb. 16, police in Norfolk reported that a six-year-old student at Little Creek Elementary brought a gun to school. The student's mother was charged the next day.
On Feb. 20, the extended learning supervisor at Richneck Elementary in Newport News sent a letter home to parents detailing a conversation among a group of fifth graders in which one student said they would tell someone to "shoot up the class." One of the students told a teacher, who then alerted administrators.
The threat came just weeks after Richneck reopened following the shooting of a first-grade teacher at the hands of a six-year-old student on January 6, according to police.
Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 21 and 22, police and fire departments in Chesapeake investigated two threats against B.M. Williams Primary School. Threats were also made to the ACLU of Virginia and the superintendent of Chesapeake Public Schools and came on the heels of the first meeting of an After School Satan Club (ASSC) on school property. The club has been a source of controversy in the community for several months.
Also Wednesday, Newport News Public Schools reported that a student at Woodside High School was facing possible expulsion and criminal charges after a gun was found among their belongings.
On Thursday, Woodside joined Warwick and Menchville High Schools in beginning the use of metal detectors for all students, staff and visitors. NNPS expects to have 74 metal detectors in schools by mid-March.
