The Green Bay Area Public School District is searching middle and high schoolers’ backpacks when they come to school after a 16-year-old was arrested last week for bringing a loaded gun to school.
Last week, Green Bay police were called for two fights at Preble High School. Through their investigation, police learned that a student who was believed to have been involved in the first fight brought a handgun and ammunition to school.
Police found the weapon in a backpack in a locked classroom. The student was taken into custody, according to the Green Bay Police Department.
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Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis told WPR the department is still investigating how the teen came into possession of a handgun.
“If we identify any adults in that chain of events who have committed crimes related to this firearm, those people will be held accountable,” Davis said. “We will make arrests, and we will refer those cases for prosecution because we will have absolutely no tolerance for adults who willingly put guns into the hands of kids.”
At a press conference last week, Davis said the charges recommended against the 16-year-old include disorderly conduct, battery, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm in a school and possession of a firearm by someone under 18. He told reporters the department is not referring adult charges.
Whether the teen is charged as an adult, he said, will be up to juvenile intake and the district attorney’s office.
Davis told WPR that he believes “guns just have no business in schools.” As a parent of a student in the district, he also said he relates to concerns parents have shared over the last week.
“The purpose of going to school is to get an education, and it’s not to settle some petty grievance that you have with somebody else,” he said. “Just the danger to everyone in that crowded environment of someone having a firearm is really serious.”
This week, the district began working to enforce a new clear backpack policy for 6th to 12th graders. Students who come to school with clear backpacks do not have to have their bags checked when they come to school in the morning or when they return from lunch, said Lori Blakeslee, a spokesperson for the school district.
Beginning next week, clear backpacks will be required for students in grades 6 to 12, Blakeslee said. Those who do not bring a clear backpack will have to leave their bags in a locked room until the end of the school day, she said.
“The backpacks are seen as a safety enhancement,” Blakeslee said. “At this point, we don’t see any endpoint to having the clear backpacks. That could always change as we continue to process this decision and look at other safety recommendations our community is making.”
She also said the Green Bay community has made about 600 clear backpacks available to students, with some businesses allowing students to get a free backpack with a valid student ID.
The district itself has also received more than $42,000 in financial donations that will be used to purchase and distribute backpacks to students who need help acquiring one, she said.
The incident last week also has started a broader conversation around school safety in Green Bay.
At last week’s press conference, School Board President James Lyerly said the district already has 11 school resource officers. But learning that a teen brought a loaded firearm to school, “communicated to us that we need to do more,” he said.
Around 400 community members attended a meeting with the school district Monday about school safety prompted by the incident and to begin brainstorming solutions, Blakeslee said.
She said some of the pitches included having metal detectors at the doors to school buildings, potentially having ammunition-sniffing dogs on site at the start of the school day and looking at how the district engages with families.
“All of that information is collected and will be presented to the (school) board at their October board meeting,” Blakeslee said.
She said the strong attendance Monday was “a great representation of what it means to be in Green Bay.” Whether attendees supported the clear backpack decision or not, Blakeslee said, they all wanted to “be part of the solution.”
Davis said the “silver lining” after last week’s incident is the way the community has come together to address school safety. He said bringing 400 people together to talk about those issues “is not normal.”
“Unfortunately, I think there are places — certainly places I’ve been in the past — where this is almost normalized, where a kid bringing a gun to school would almost be unremarkable, and it wouldn’t get this kind of reaction,” he said. “It should get this kind of reaction from the community because of the level of risk that’s involved.”
“This is hopefully how we, as a community, send the message to our kids that this is completely unacceptable behavior,” he added.
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