Are Gaston County students safe at school?

Mass text messages sent to students at a Gaston County middle school last week were certainly scary.

"I will kill u and everyone else at that school And kill the teachers Have fun I'm coming (sic)," the text messages read.

Why, parents asked on social media, had neither the school nor police informed parents of the threat?

In today's world of cell phones and instant communication, Gaston County Police Chief Joe Ramey said Monday night at a forum on school violence, rumors and unsubstantiated threats spread faster than truth and useful information. Children texted their parents before police and school officials even had time to react.

Police officers and school officials need to verify information and make attempts to assess the danger before making phone calls and creating panic, Ramey said.

And as difficult as it might be, parents may need to wait a bit before showing up en masse to pick up their students early at school and take them home, he said.

"Let's wait for some official word so we don't become part of the problem," Ramey told about 25 people who gathered at New Hope Baptist Church.

High anxiety

Gaston County Police officers were able to determine the threat came from a student in Georgia. When Gaston County officers called law enforcement in that state the young suspect was already in custody over other issues, Ramey said.

Neither Ramey nor the other panelists were trying to discount the anxiety parents and students can experience over school safety. As Rep. John Torbett said, long gone are the simpler days of a student pulling a fire alarm as a prank to get out from taking a test.

"We have evil out there," Torbett, R-Gaston, said.

Are Gaston schools safe?

But those on the panel, which also included Gaston County school board Chairman Jeff Ramsey and school behavioral health specialist Reese Barnett with Kintegra Health, emphasized that they believe Gaston County Schools are safe now and working to become even safer.

School officials have used school bond money approved by voters to build fences around schools and create waiting areas for people visiting buildings in order to create a barrier between someone with bad intentions and students and teachers, Ramey told the group.

Schools also have more metal detectors and security cameras, Ramey said.

Police and school officials say they have to balance school security with education and not making schools look like a military zone.

And some things are working to make schools across the state safer, officials said.

An anonymous school safety tip line thwarted more than 400 security issues last year across the state, Torbett said. North Carolina also has increased spending to provide more mental health counselors for schools.

"If we address the mental health issue, and we address it properly, I think that's the fix," Torbett said.

Schools and police are also working on doing a better job to assess threats and look at students before problems escalate.

Students today face more mental health issues than before, said Barnett, and the isolation that came with COVID made things worse. Children not only have more anxiety and depression, she said, but also a loss of socialization skills and lack of coping.

Parents need to be more involved with their children and look for danger signs.

"Connectivity is key," she said, "just a sense of belonging."

School resource officers

County and municipal law enforcement agencies supply a school resource officer for every public school in Gaston County, although staffing issues sometimes mean an officer may split time between two schools on occasion.

Some of the county's larger high schools have two school resource officers, Ramey said.

School resource officers must have at least three years of law enforcement experience to work at a school and undergo "SWAT-like" training, Ramey said. They are not the stereotypical older police officer waiting on retirement, although some retired officers do come back to work as school resource officers to help out, Ramey said.

"Having these police officers on the scene means a lot," he said.

The school system also used its athletic funding to increase pay for off-duty officers by $5 an hour. Off-duty officers now make $35 an hour to provide security, $40 an hour for football games and other sporting events.

Like everyone else, officers enjoy their families and free time, so offering more pay has helped getting them to perform off-duty work, Ramey said.

Following safety rules

Gaston County Schools conduct regular inspections to make sure safety protocols are followed, Ramey said.

In recent school shootings elsewhere, officials learned afterward the shooter gained access to the school because a door wasn't locked properly. At Gaston County Schools, officials say they try to make sure visitors have just one way into the school, which means visitors must pass through a barrier between them and students.

One problem Gaston County Schools face relates to the age of some of its buildings. Schools were once built as the center of a community and welcomed people to visit. Now, they need to be upgraded so that they are less open, Ramsey said.

Panelists described instances they experienced where they visited schools where a back door was unlocked or a cafeteria door propped open, a violation of safety rules.

"Protocols are only good if you follow them," Ramey said.

You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-201-7016 or email him at Kellis@GastonGazette.com.