Richmond County school board not canceling homecomings because of 'a few bad apples'

In reaction to recent school shootings, the Richmond County Board of Education spent a lot of time talking about school safety on Tuesday, but took no action.

The discussion was initiated by board member Jimmy Atkins, who felt the shooting at the Thomson-Laney football game on Friday and the one at the Josey High homecoming tailgate on Saturday needed to be addressed.

More: Thomson-Laney football game postponed after shots fired near stadium

More: Shots fired at Josey High School homecoming tailgate, second shooting in 24 hours

"Through the years, we have allowed tailgating to take place on school board property, and probably the biggest rule is no alcohol, and I have walked through these tailgates, year in and year out, and there is alcohol consumption going on," Atkins said. "I've also smelled marijuana being consumed in the tailgate areas and I just truly have a big concern that I don't think this board can sit back and wait next month on all of this to be addressed."

With that in mind, Atkins moved that they temporarily suspend any tailgate activities on school property, including any homecoming parades, until they could get a better handle on the situation. The motion was supported by board members Helen Minchew and Patsy Scott. However, the motion failed by a 7-3 majority.

"The pandemic deprived a lot of our seniors, through the past couple of years, of experiences that I had, you had, most of us on this board had as students in high school, and I would hate to think that we're gonna let a few bad apples ... continue to try to influence what we do with the folks who aren't bad," Walker said.

"We're sitting here talking about what's going on in our school system. It's not the system, it's our community," Cain said. "For me to sit here any more and listen to certain folks and some folks post judgment on this school system is not flying with me no more. We need to face the fact, we got a problem in our community which is spilling over into our schools."

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Though he could not vote on the matter, Superintendent Kenneth Bradshaw said, "We have not had an opportunity to meet with the community to really talk about what happened and get their opinion like we did during COVID." While the timeframe is short and school officials are taking steps to ensure safety, Bradshaw felt it would be unfair "to make hasty decisions without involving the community."

When asked about their capabilities for keeping future games and homecoming events safe with police and other security personnel, Deputy Superintendent Matthew Priester said they don't have enough staff to cover all three of the upcoming weekend's homecomings, but they are collaborating with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office in order to boost safety. However, Priester said the sheriff's office is not guaranteeing any particular number of on-site personnel. He also said they have reached out to other security and law enforcement agencies, but as of Tuesday, had not received a response from any of them.

School Safety and Security Chief Mantrell Wilson said, outside of the sheriff's office partnership, they have "several security measures," but "sharing the security measures that we're putting in place, that's not always the best practice as those things need to remain confidential due to people being able to try to circumvent them."

More: Richmond County School System to review safety plans after 2 shootings within 24 hours

Wilson was also asked about a video related to the lockdown and early release Josey High saw on Tuesday after a threat was made on the school. The video circulated on Facebook and appears to show a mother being tackled by security and reportedly being maced after entering the school to try to get her child. Wilson said he had not seen the video so he could not comment.

More: Police investigating threat at Josey High School

Many parents have expressed anger and fear around recent events. One parent who was at Tuesday's meeting, Yolonda Jefferson, said she has already started discussing with the school system what steps she needs to take to pull her children out completely in order to home school them.

"There's not enough security, there's not enough staff, and as of right now, are kids are out here feeling unsafe," she said.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Richmond County school board not canceling homecoming festivities