ROANOKE, Va. – Lynchburg City Public Schools had five cases where they had to contact law enforcement in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Virginia State Department’s latest Student Behavior and Administrative Response data.
At Bedford Hills Elementary and E.C. Glass High, there were two cases of kids who had projectile weapons. Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation reported an incident of actual or attempted robbery. Also, there were two separate incidents at E.C. Glass High. One was reported where a student intended to distribute or sell drugs and another for a report of assault that happened with a firearm or weapon.
These findings were a part of the latest Student Behavior and Administrative Response data that schools must report to the state Department of Education. The report outlines cases of student behavior and how division leaders responded to them. It includes things that happened on school property, buses and school-sponsored activities. They are still compiling data for the last school year.
Lynchburg City Schools also reported 11 cases of written threats, intimidation, instigating violence, injury or harm to another student or others. Law enforcement was only notified if the threat was made to a staff member unless the student who made the threat had a disability. There were also 67 non-written threats and 85 cases of kids hitting staff.
The division had 56 reports of students having controlled substances—illegal drugs inhalants, synthetic hallucinogens or unauthorized prescription medications.
Meanwhile, there were 415 cases where kids engaged in reckless behavior that created a risk of injury to themselves or others. 388 times students shoved, pushed, struck, or bit one another. Also, there were 144 fights.
10 News reached out to Lynchburg City Public Schools to see what it’s doing for security.
The division said they installed new entryways in three schools over the summer, including Dunbar Middle, Paul Munro Elementary and at the Hutcherson Early Learning Center.
Visitors will now be let in by staff members and required to check into the new entryway.
“We also put ballistic film on the windows so it’s harder to break through those. The glass panes and glass entryways. We also have worked on new reunification plans with our safety team and our school safety officers. And so all of our schools have been trained on how to reunify students in the case of a real emergency. Revamped all of our handbooks and emergency crisis plans,” said Chief Academic and Student Services Officer Derrick Brown with Lynchburg City Schools.
Brown said Lynchburg City also has academies for kids who have had behavioral issues at their schools.
During the 2022 to 2023 school year, the division also introduced an alternative suspension program. Instead of kids going home to serve their suspensions, they now go to a different building.