LOWER WINDSOR TWP., York County, PA. — A student was arrested at Eastern York High School Monday for allegedly bringing a gun to school. The student, an 11th grade girl, allegedly brought the unloaded gun wrapped in a sweatshirt in her backpack on a school bus Friday. The Principal received word of the incident Sunday and notified authorities.
Police discovered the gun was passed off to another student over the weekend. The gun was recovered by police. No ammunition was found with the weapon.
The accused student was taken into custody and turned over to the York County Juvenile Probation Department.
Parents in the district were sent the following letter:
Dear Parents:
Recognizing parents’ rights and needs for timely and accurate information about student safety,
we want to share with you an incident that occurred recently at Eastern York High School.
Yesterday afternoon, an 11th grade female student was taken into custody for allegedly bringing
a weapon onto a school bus.
On Sunday, January 28, 2018 the Eastern York High School Principal received a report from a
parent that a student was in possession of a gun wrapped in a sweatshirt in her backpack on
the school bus Friday afternoon. Eastern York High School administrators, in cooperation with
the Lower Windsor Township Police Department, began an immediate investigation and
questioned witnesses and the student. The police department acted promptly and searched for
the weapon that was passed off to another individual over the weekend. The unloaded weapon
was turned over to law enforcement officials and no ammunition was found with the weapon.
The student is currently not in school and faces disciplinary action consistent with Board of
Education policy.
As with all matters of student safety, we have taken this very seriously and have acted
accordingly, utilizing both school system disciplinary recourse and the juvenile justice system.
We want to thank those parents and students who have provided us with the information
necessary to investigate and bring closure to this incident. Please encourage your child to let a
teacher or administrator know if a situation exists that could ever place him or her and others in
danger. We are committed to taking every precaution to keep Eastern York School District a
safe place to learn and work.
We also need your help to ensure that our students fully understand the importance of keeping
our campuses weapon-free. Individually, we count on our students not to bring contraband to
school, and collectively, we need them to commit to alerting adults when they become aware of
a safety concern on campus.
You can support us at home by staying active in the lives of your children – ensuring that they
don’t have access to contraband, regularly checking jackets, backpacks and pockets, and
encouraging them to be involved with friends and activities that support a healthy lifestyle.
Only by working as a school community in partnership with parents, can we create and maintain
the level of safety that we want for our children and that they certainly deserve. As always, we
welcome your comments and questions. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you should
have any concerns or important information to share.
Sincerely,
Mr. Randy Seely, Eastern York High School Assistant Principal
Dr. Darla Pianowski, Eastern York School District Superintendent