A 10-year-old fourth-grader on Tuesday brought a loaded gun to Glassell Park Elementary, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Details of the incident are slowly emerging. Principal Claudia Pelayo reported that” a gun was found on campus” in a text to the school community on Tuesday night.
No one was injured in the affair.
Her message read,” We immediately took action, including securing the weapons and notifying the Los Angeles School Police Department and Region West Operations for further analysis.” The effected student’s families have been informed.
A child brought a loaded .40-caliber Glock 22 to school, according to resources, and the cannon had been reported stolen. According to the sources, a student reported the boy’s weapons to an adult after seeing him show it off. Those details were not confirmed or refuted by the city.
Following the board’s cut in the police budget four years ago, the school board cut the budget for the police budget by slashing the funds for the authorities. The gun treatment is a sign of an alarming rise in “weapons incidents” and battles at Los Angeles Unified institutions.
The principal’s text said school authorities may be “on page” on Wednesday” to assistance the school”.
Other than telling the families that a cannon had been found, the message also listed no other actions involving the student.
According to the city speech,” Our class will continue to adhere to the District’s Discipline Foundation Policy to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for our individuals.” However, no details about the discipline policy or how it applied to this circumstance were provided.
In a follow- up, a district spokesman provided , a link , to the parent- student handbook.
The gun manufacturer , describes the seized Glock , as” by far the most popular police service pistol in the United States”, adding that that gun “fires the potent 40 S&, W cartridge and holds more rounds for its size and weight than most other full- sized handgun in its class”.
Sharp increase in weapon incidents
Since campus closures that were more than a year old, starting in March 2020, have there been significantly more incidents involving weapons at L.A. schools.
In the 2018- 19 school year — before the pandemic — there were 669 weapon “incidents”, a drop from the 705 of the previous year, according to district data.
But in 2021- 22 these incidents rose to 994 and rose again to 1, 197 the following year, a nearly 80 % increase compared to pre- pandemic levels in a school system with declining enrollment.
This year, through April 15, there were 903 weapons incidents. Since then, incidents have included the May 3 arrests of two students carrying , loaded semiautomatic handguns , around Northridge Middle School. A Washington Preparatory High School student carrying a weapon , shot and killed a student , just off campus on April 15.
A delegation of parents also requested that the board of education hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, and it received more than 4, 000 signatures.
In the wake of the Minneapolis city police killing of George Floyd, the school board had voted to cut the school police budget by 30 % in 2020.
Parents on Tuesday criticized the board for tying the district’s own school police to the inadvertent actions of a city police force in another region of the country.
A separate group of Clinton Middle School parents called for the police to be present, claiming in comments that the district was failing to stop “five to six fights per day” as well as the cellphone-camerapping of these fights, which are then posted to social media.
The most recent gun seizure does not neatly fit into the debate over the duties of school police and school safety.
L. A. Unified has never had elementary school officers. One officer would be permanently stationed at a high school before the cuts, and another officer would divide their time between two middle schools.
No officers can enter a campus in accordance with current district policy aside from those who are called in to handle an emergency, conduct an investigation, or arrest a student. A recent attempt to make limited exceptions to this policy fell apart after one day , amid finger- pointing , over who had authorized the change.
On Tuesday, teachers union President Cecily Myart- Cruz criticized the school board for breaking pledges to further reduce the police budget.
Max Arias, a different union leader who represents the largest number of non-teaching workers, emphasized the value of unarmed campus aides for ensuring the safety of schools.
Arias also criticized the district for the district’s budget cuts, which have resulted in too few hours worked for campus aides to qualify for health benefits.
There is debate about whether campus police would be a deterrent, even when it comes to interpreting the growing number of weapons.
George McKenna, a board member, has stated on numerous occasions that having an officer on campus helps to deter students from bringing weapons to school.
But that’s not the view of Joseph Williams, director of Students Deserve, which recruits and assists student activists who call for defunding the police.
When weapons were seized, he said in an interview, “was anyone injured? No. Why? Because some students on that campus had faith in adults enough to say,” Hey, this is going down and we need to address it,” and people were able to intervene.
He claimed that the officer’s presence would have eroded that trust, creating a potentially riskier situation.
He also criticised the district for not providing the necessary counseling and other non-law enforcement services to make students feel safe.
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