Ellee Moore

As students enter Dunbar, they line up at the metal detectors and place their bags and other items on a table to be checked.

Around 9:30 a.m. an email from principal Scott Loscheider went out to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s families disclosing that “…our school safety and security protocols helped prevent [a] weapon from entering our hallways and classrooms today...”

The loaded weapon was located when security ambassadors checked students’ bags as they entered the building through the metal detectors.

The school did not go into lockdown, but once parents received the message, the students soon found out.

“My mom texted me to tell me,” sophomore Roselin Garcia said. “I didn’t even know.”

Once the safety ambassador found the weapon, the FCPS police department took over the incident and the student was taken into custody. The school day continued without interruption. The student is being charged with unlawful possession of a weapon on school property. This charge constitutes a felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Under state law, every public school campus must have a law enforcement officer with special training to be a school resource officer.

“This is an excellent opportunity for all of us to remind our students that situations like this are extremely serious. Students and parents should understand that making threats against a school or bringing a weapon onto school property is a felony under Kentucky state law,” Mr. Loscheider said.

Officer John Stanko said he could not share details of an ongoing investigation, but that the situation was swiftly under control. As an extra precaution, other FCPS officers not typically assigned to Dunbar were in the hallways of the school throughout the day.

School officials are urging students to contact trusted adults in the building or to use the STOP Tipline with any credible information they have about safety concerns. The tip line is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It was shocking to find out,” sophomore Alayna Wallace said. “I’m glad security found it.”

Students who witnessed the arrest in the morning line said that they didn’t know what was going on or why the student was being taken.

“I was in the bag check line when two officers ran out through the front doors, and a couple minutes later I saw them bring in the guy handcuffed and take him to their office,” junior Karli Dutton said.” I was really confused and kind of concerned because I didn’t know what was going on exactly.”

Although he understands that the administration did not address the situation with the whole student body at the time, sophomore Jayden Ramos said that he would have liked to know what was going on once the situation was safe because rumors began circulating.

Sophomore Manuela Abreu said that she felt the school made the right call by telling parents first. “Telling us could have caused chaos,” she said.

Word spread among students that violence toward the school was not the intention, however, several students agreed that it didn’t matter.

“It bothers me that there was a loaded gun,” junior Andrew Moore said. “It doesn’t matter if there was intent or not. It’s still a loaded gun.”

Metal detectors were installed at Dunbar in 2018 under previous superintendent Manny Caulk’s 10-point safety plan and FCPS has a contract with Greene’s Investigations, LLC, to provide metal detectors and “safety ambassador” personnel to schools. There are 15 safety ambassadors regularly assigned to Dunbar.

In February 2023, FCPS created a panel for the community to give input on how to make schools safer. The purpose of the panel was for stakeholders to “outline specific recommendations to improve school safety.”

Ironically, the day after the first panel a loaded gun was found at Dunbar on Feb. 3, 2023.

In the Feb. 9 videotaped meeting, students were asked to describe school safety in one word. Among the words shared were “inconsistent, “work-in-progress,” and “evolving.” Justice Biggerstaff and Sepehr Kiessling attended the meeting on behalf of Dunbar.

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This story will be updated as it develops.