High school students stage walkout to protest administrators’ handling of student armed with loaded gun

GRESHAM Ore. (KPTV/Gray Mews) - Students in Oregon protested how their school administrators responded when a student brought a loaded gun into the building in September by walking out of class.

Kandie Bradley is the parent of a student at Gresham High School. She supported her daughter by joining her in the walkout.

“My daughter should not be worried about her life showing up to school every day, and that’s very concerning to all of us,” Bradley said.

The walkout took place after a packed Gresham Barlow school board meeting on Wednesday night, where students, parents, and teachers spoke out against the Gresham High School administration, specifically the principal. They said the administrators were not doing enough to keep everyone on campus safe.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you how bad things are getting at Gresham High School. You already know. You are choosing to ignore it,” one student told the school board.

People who came forward to make a public comment said the administration failed to follow safety protocols on Friday, Sept. 20 when the student brought a loaded gun to school.

“They let the student, known to have a weapon, walk through my classroom full of students. And the police hadn’t even been called or consulted yet. How is that doing everything right?” a Gresham High School Teacher said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt the day of the incident, but many people criticized the school for not going into lockdown because they said it took three hours for the student with the gun to be turned over to police.

“If there was a shooting, God forbid, then what would have happened then? It was a lucky situation. We have procedures for a reason. When a student has a live firearm with a bullet in it, we should go into a hold,” Gresham High School Student Union cofounder Robin Moran said.

Another way Moran said the administration didn’t handle the situation properly is how the school alerted parents.

“I had to tell my mom that it was a gun, because the way they worded the email all they said was ‘a weapon’ and when she read ‘weapon’ her first thought was just a knife,” Moran said. “They intentionally left out the word ‘gun.’”

The Gresham-Barlow school district sent a statement:

“The Gresham Barlow school district expresses its thanks to the building administration and campus monitors who worked to swiftly identify the armed student and take the student to a secure location. Thanks to their courage and commitment, we were able to avert a tragedy.”

During public comment, many students and faculty said that the school’s description was not an accurate description of what happened. They are now calling for changes to the administration.

“I personally would like to see change in how they deal with things like that because it affects all of us,” Moran said.

On Thursday evening following the walkout, the school district released a much longer statement that reads in part:

“Dear Gresham-Barlow Community,

For our students to thrive, our schools must be safe, welcoming environments where students can learn and grow. My top priority is the safety of our students, staff, and the entire school community.

We have numerous safety measures in place and work continually to enhance the security of our campuses. We regularly evaluate and strengthen our safety protocols and procedures.

We need your help. When it comes to school safety, we all have a role to play. The Gresham-Barlow School District will hold a School Safety Town Hall for students, staff, and families later this month. At this meeting, we will share our current safety protocols, answer your questions, and discuss how we can work together to improve safety throughout our schools. ...

The School Safety Summit will be held on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gordon Russell Middle School, 3625 E. Powell Valley Road, Gresham, OR 97080. Please mark your calendars.

For those unable to attend, know that we will share information presented at the meeting and provide an online feedback form for you to ask questions and share your thoughts. ...

Why wasn’t the school put in hold, secure or lockdown?

Use of standard response protocols such as hold, secure or lockdown are based on situational awareness and information on the specific situation at the time. A variety of factors go into determining the response including the details of the report, individuals involved, location of the event, and time of day, etc.

The student was in a classroom with other students and staff at the time. Because of this, the administration determined a controlled, deliberate response was needed and strategically removed the student from the classroom.”

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