York City Police are investigating after a first-grader brought a gun to school at Jackson K-8 School in York.
It happened Tuesday morning. The gun was unloaded and the school notified parents near the end of the school day, according to one mother. She says she should have learned about it earlier. She has two boys at the school, one who is also a first-grader.
Her son was one of the students who saw the gun left on the cafeteria floor, before a teacher took it to the school police officer. The officer determined the gun was brought into school in a first-grader’s book bag.
“I don’t want him to be scared to come to school.. It’s alarming to me and it puts me in a bad place with my kids, because I’m wondering should they go to a different school, what is being done,” says Nysza Watkins of York. “They didn’t tell us anything that happened afterwards, or if there were consequences.”
The school district superintendent says they are not releasing more details yet because the investigation is ongoing. Police are not saying where the gun came from or whose it was.
The school’s principal, Sue Moyer, sent home a letter to parents explaining what how the gun was found. which said in part:
“The health and safety of your children is paramount to us as a school district. No students or staff members were injured as a result of this incident. While we regret that these types of incidents occur, we are also confident in the procedures that we have in place to handle them while keeping your children safe. The students and staff were extremely cooperative in working through this difficult situation.”
Superintedent Eric Holmes added in an email, “The district administration and district police department reviews all serious incidents to determine how we can enhance the safety and security provisions we have in place for our students and staff.”