A student at Ball High School took a weapon on campus Tuesday morning, principal Joseph Pillar said in an email released to parents.
A school lock down started at 10:30 a.m. when a student was reported to have taken a weapon in campus, Pillar said.
A fellow student reported the student with the weapon, Pillar said.
The student was identified and removed from campus, Pillar said.
“The school received a report of a gun,” Galveston Independent School District spokeswoman Stephanie Fontenot said. “There was nothing verified or seen. The alleged threat was removed from campus.”
“The school went into lockdown due to a Ball High student making a poor choice by bringing a weapon to the campus,” Pillar said.
At 11:20 a.m. the lockdown was lifted, he said.
The case is still under investigation by the Galveston Independent School District Police Department, Pillar said.
Understandably, this is a horrible situation, and no-one wants to hear of a potential shooter at their child's school. However, I do believe parents probably need training (of some sort) on how to handle these situations better. There was chaos at the school during this event and many parents/families showed up looking for their loved ones. If there's really an active shooter situation, is it really a good idea to show up at the school demanding to see your child? We also can't jump at every rumor either. The communication from the district on this matter was very late - everyone with a kid there already knew what was going on by the time we heard from the principal. I do think whoever sends out the text messages about homecoming, spirit days, or other school related activities, should include lockdowns or lockout situations. This may help calm some nerves. Wouldn't it be better to learn of the situation directly from the school vs. learning of these events from scared kids or rumors from others? It would probably be good to ask parents NOT to come to the school until the situation is resolved. Personally, once I was aware of the situation, I was grateful for the ability to text my son (who had no idea what was happening, btw) and receive an immediate response from him that all was ok in his classroom - however, no response would have been terrible. I never felt the need to go pick him up or go to the school, but I was absolutely concerned and didn't think of anything else until I learned the person who brought the gun to school was no longer a threat.
Honestly, it's very sad this student felt the need to bring a gun to school and I hope he/she receives help/counseling.
I think an all out effort should be made to find out what provoked the suspect student to come to a point where he/she would want to or felt the need to bring a weapon to school! Usually it comes down to bullying or some sort of dispute among two or more students. Maybe even be gang related.
School staffers and Campus Security Officers should take special care to have an open door policy to any student who might be bullied, and from the first day of school let every student as well as staffers know that bullying will NOT be tolerated on the campus, in the school, nor at school activities! Many students will take school rules and policies as serious as they are enforced by those in charge!
One of the reasons Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the two Columbine High School Shooters who murdered 13 individuals, killed themselves, and wounded 24 others in 1999, ..was said to be because of shawning and bullying perpetuated against them for years by other students in different areas of the school. There were also claims that people including some staffers stood by and watched without intervening while they were encircled in the commons area, called names, and had stuff thrown at them in the cafeteria, with nothing done about it! A situation like this is a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen. Bullying should never be tolerated in any school or school activity, and the policy stating so should be reinforced often so it should never be forgotten.
A good rule of thumbs should be to NEVER grow complacent to the point where any student or staffer could assume that bullying will be overlooked or go unpublished! The authoritative to doing nothing could end up causing sadness and regret which will never be forgotten!
I did hear from others that the student who brought the gun to school was being bullied. Definitely sad when someone feels this lost. Honestly, it's just unacceptable, in my opinion.
Absolutely no reason for a student with a gun on campus. What other avenues could they have taken to protect themselves within the system at school from significant bullying and possible bodily harm?? The situation clearly still exists with the bullying students. How will that be addressed?
When the staff goes through such training the admin. should have had training beforehand that covered how the parents/public would receive word. Communication
from the school/district should be as soon as possible. When I was in TC no students was allowed to leave the campus during a lockdown. It will be difficult to prevent the students from calling. This is why it is imperative for the administrators to get the word
out. While it might not be a popular idea metal detectors at the entrance could prevent some of this. Preventing parents from coming to the school will be difficult. It would have been great if GPD secured the ISD property preventing parents from going in until all clear. Parents need to keep in mind that teachers and staff are following their guidelines during this situation and that no one from the outside may enter until we are given an all clear. Perhaps, GISD could consider the type of teacher badges we had in TC- It had places on it that we could touch that would send a message to the security on campus asap.
No calls, not emails. Just a tap. Since bringing a weapon on school property is a felony and this occurred at a high school I am sure the student will receive harsh punishment. I hope the student receives the help he/she needs.
Yes, I agree that no student should bring a gun to school! That is self explainable! I also will agree that the two Columbine Killers shouldn't have bought weapons on campus and murdered 13 people, and wounded countless others too, but They DID!!!!! The right or the wrong of the act is not going to help those who were murdered by the Killers!
The point is they DID BRING WEAPONS AND THEY DID MURDER PEOPLE WHO WONT BE.COMING BACK!!!!!!! So as an ex Law Enforcement First Responder my attitude is to find out the "WHY CAUSATION" WHICH PROVOKED THEM TO BRING A WEAPON TO SCHOOL IN THE FIRST PLACE!
I said earlier from my research.....that one of the reasons was BULLYING, along with different forms of abuse they suffered from members of their student-body, for long periods of time with NOTHING done about it! I said this was a recipe for disaster....and it was! The bad part about my assessment concerning this is if it happens again in another place or environment, the SAME RESULTS CAN OCCUR AGAIN JUST IT DID AT COLUMBINE, and a few other places! I'm not talking about what's right, I'm talking about reality and keeping students healthy and alive! So I will say again for the record, if there exists a BULLYING problem at any school, it should be handled and dealt with expeditiously.
Now if those who have brought guns into schools would receive punishment that would SEND THE MESSAGE THAT THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Until that happens and until the US GOVERNMENT ADDRESSES the situation with force nothing will happen. It will be a continuation. UVALDE brought more attention to the problem. GOV. ABBOTT DID NOT DO ANYTHING BEYOND MEETING WITH THE PARENTS. He did not even attend any funerals. Change must happen.
Guns are prolific. We all know it. Still, the same arguments are repeated over and over again. It's not the guns, etc., etc. I'm so sick of it. What it is about firearms makes many decent people ignore the reality that there may be too many firearms I am lost to understand. We need gun laws that protect citizens. I'm so grateful this young man was stopped.
Most students don’t know their Counselor or the Assistant Principals well enough to confide in them. Very few bullied students confide in a teacher. Teachers need to be pro-active in that case, and talk to students who are obviously bullying other students. That’s what I did even as a substitute teacher. I talked to them after class. It’s part of the job to try and “put out little fires” before they get larger.
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(12) comments
Understandably, this is a horrible situation, and no-one wants to hear of a potential shooter at their child's school. However, I do believe parents probably need training (of some sort) on how to handle these situations better. There was chaos at the school during this event and many parents/families showed up looking for their loved ones. If there's really an active shooter situation, is it really a good idea to show up at the school demanding to see your child? We also can't jump at every rumor either. The communication from the district on this matter was very late - everyone with a kid there already knew what was going on by the time we heard from the principal. I do think whoever sends out the text messages about homecoming, spirit days, or other school related activities, should include lockdowns or lockout situations. This may help calm some nerves. Wouldn't it be better to learn of the situation directly from the school vs. learning of these events from scared kids or rumors from others? It would probably be good to ask parents NOT to come to the school until the situation is resolved. Personally, once I was aware of the situation, I was grateful for the ability to text my son (who had no idea what was happening, btw) and receive an immediate response from him that all was ok in his classroom - however, no response would have been terrible. I never felt the need to go pick him up or go to the school, but I was absolutely concerned and didn't think of anything else until I learned the person who brought the gun to school was no longer a threat.
Honestly, it's very sad this student felt the need to bring a gun to school and I hope he/she receives help/counseling.
I think an all out effort should be made to find out what provoked the suspect student to come to a point where he/she would want to or felt the need to bring a weapon to school! Usually it comes down to bullying or some sort of dispute among two or more students. Maybe even be gang related.
School staffers and Campus Security Officers should take special care to have an open door policy to any student who might be bullied, and from the first day of school let every student as well as staffers know that bullying will NOT be tolerated on the campus, in the school, nor at school activities! Many students will take school rules and policies as serious as they are enforced by those in charge!
One of the reasons Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the two Columbine High School Shooters who murdered 13 individuals, killed themselves, and wounded 24 others in 1999, ..was said to be because of shawning and bullying perpetuated against them for years by other students in different areas of the school. There were also claims that people including some staffers stood by and watched without intervening while they were encircled in the commons area, called names, and had stuff thrown at them in the cafeteria, with nothing done about it! A situation like this is a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen. Bullying should never be tolerated in any school or school activity, and the policy stating so should be reinforced often so it should never be forgotten.
A good rule of thumbs should be to NEVER grow complacent to the point where any student or staffer could assume that bullying will be overlooked or go unpublished! The authoritative to doing nothing could end up causing sadness and regret which will never be forgotten!
[thumbup] Nailed it as always, Mr. Douglas.
I did hear from others that the student who brought the gun to school was being bullied. Definitely sad when someone feels this lost. Honestly, it's just unacceptable, in my opinion.
Absolutely no reason for a student with a gun on campus. What other avenues could they have taken to protect themselves within the system at school from significant bullying and possible bodily harm?? The situation clearly still exists with the bullying students. How will that be addressed?
Main thing is he took care of the situation FIRST!!!!
How quickly people point fingers!!! To authority
Written by Lynne Springer
When the staff goes through such training the admin. should have had training beforehand that covered how the parents/public would receive word. Communication
from the school/district should be as soon as possible. When I was in TC no students was allowed to leave the campus during a lockdown. It will be difficult to prevent the students from calling. This is why it is imperative for the administrators to get the word
out. While it might not be a popular idea metal detectors at the entrance could prevent some of this. Preventing parents from coming to the school will be difficult. It would have been great if GPD secured the ISD property preventing parents from going in until all clear. Parents need to keep in mind that teachers and staff are following their guidelines during this situation and that no one from the outside may enter until we are given an all clear. Perhaps, GISD could consider the type of teacher badges we had in TC- It had places on it that we could touch that would send a message to the security on campus asap.
No calls, not emails. Just a tap. Since bringing a weapon on school property is a felony and this occurred at a high school I am sure the student will receive harsh punishment. I hope the student receives the help he/she needs.
Yes, I agree that no student should bring a gun to school! That is self explainable! I also will agree that the two Columbine Killers shouldn't have bought weapons on campus and murdered 13 people, and wounded countless others too, but They DID!!!!! The right or the wrong of the act is not going to help those who were murdered by the Killers!
The point is they DID BRING WEAPONS AND THEY DID MURDER PEOPLE WHO WONT BE.COMING BACK!!!!!!! So as an ex Law Enforcement First Responder my attitude is to find out the "WHY CAUSATION" WHICH PROVOKED THEM TO BRING A WEAPON TO SCHOOL IN THE FIRST PLACE!
I said earlier from my research.....that one of the reasons was BULLYING, along with different forms of abuse they suffered from members of their student-body, for long periods of time with NOTHING done about it! I said this was a recipe for disaster....and it was! The bad part about my assessment concerning this is if it happens again in another place or environment, the SAME RESULTS CAN OCCUR AGAIN JUST IT DID AT COLUMBINE, and a few other places! I'm not talking about what's right, I'm talking about reality and keeping students healthy and alive! So I will say again for the record, if there exists a BULLYING problem at any school, it should be handled and dealt with expeditiously.
Written by Lynne Springer
Now if those who have brought guns into schools would receive punishment that would SEND THE MESSAGE THAT THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Until that happens and until the US GOVERNMENT ADDRESSES the situation with force nothing will happen. It will be a continuation. UVALDE brought more attention to the problem. GOV. ABBOTT DID NOT DO ANYTHING BEYOND MEETING WITH THE PARENTS. He did not even attend any funerals. Change must happen.
Guns are prolific. We all know it. Still, the same arguments are repeated over and over again. It's not the guns, etc., etc. I'm so sick of it. What it is about firearms makes many decent people ignore the reality that there may be too many firearms I am lost to understand. We need gun laws that protect citizens. I'm so grateful this young man was stopped.
It's not the guns.
We have a gun law. It's called the Second Amendment.
Most students don’t know their Counselor or the Assistant Principals well enough to confide in them. Very few bullied students confide in a teacher. Teachers need to be pro-active in that case, and talk to students who are obviously bullying other students. That’s what I did even as a substitute teacher. I talked to them after class. It’s part of the job to try and “put out little fires” before they get larger.
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Be truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
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