Reports of weapons in Beaufort Co. schools increased last year, according to police
The number of weapons-related reports in Beaufort County schools was higher in 2018-19 than in 2017-18, according to reports by the district’s school resource officers.
The news comes as Beaufort County School District prepares to make security improvements at each of its 30 schools after the November passage of a $345 million bond referendum, approved to go up for a vote by the board of education less than a month after the end of the 2018-19 school year.
Every year, Beaufort and Bluffton police departments and the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office submit reports to Beaufort County School District to document the numbers and types of incidents that school resource officers handle.
In the 15 district schools included in the 2018-19 reports, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, Beaufort County police officers assigned to schools handled 25 calls or incidents related to weapons.
The 2017-18 reports listed 22 weapons confiscated in district schools, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, a noticeable decrease from past years.
District spokesman Jim Foster said Thursday that the yearly reports include “incidents that occur in the community and are reported at school.”
The district defines a weapon as “any item capable of inflicting injury or harm,” including firearms, knives, razors, metal knuckles or batons and blackjacks.
“The vast majority of weapons reports are not firearm-related,” Foster said Thursday. “But even one offense is too many.”
For a second year, Robert Smalls International Academy had five reports of possession of a weapon on school property, the highest number in the county.
Hilton Head Island High School had three reports of possession of a weapon on school property, and one report of possession of a concealed weapon.
Mossy Oaks Elementary School and Lady’s Island Middle School each had three weapon-related reports. Battery Creek High School and Beaufort Middle School each had two weapon-related reports.
Bluffton High School, River Ridge Academy, Beaufort High School, Hilton Head Island Middle School and Whale Branch Middle School each had one weapon-related report.
Whale Branch Early College High School had one report of pointing a firearm at another person. Foster said Thursday that this was an example of a community incident that a teacher overheard and reported to the school resource officer.
As defined by the federal Gun-Free Schools Act, any student who brings a gun to school is subject to expulsion for no less than one calendar year.
Students who bring in other weapons, such as a knife with blade more than 2 inches long, BB gun, paintball gun, razor or metal knuckles, face up to 10 days of out of school suspension with a recommendation for expulsion or an assignment to an alternative school, according to the district’s Code of Student Conduct.
Foster said Thursday that the district is using threat assessment teams for the first time this school year. The school-level teams are composed of administrators, nurses, social workers and school resource officers who determine disciplinary measures and next steps for “serious incidents.”
District schools are slated for personnel and infrastructure boosts to security in the near future.
About $26 million of the $345 million November bond referendum money is earmarked for safety and security improvements at every school in the district, which were discussed in executive session at the board of education’s Dec. 17 operations committee meeting. No vote or action was taken following the closed portion of the meeting.
In October, the board also approved hiring 17 armed security guards to the district’s elementary schools, which are currently covered by five community resource officers from the sheriff’s office that are shared with other private schools in the county instead of dedicated officers.
It is unclear when hiring for security will start — district administrators pointed out that the funding for new security hires wasn’t included in the $254 million budget approved by the board and County Council in June.
“We have a budget of a quarter of a billion dollars,” board member John Dowling said in October. “Safety is our number-one priority, so I’m sure you can find items that have less of a priority in order to fund our number-one priority.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 5:25 PM.