LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Atherton High School was placed on lockdown Tuesday after a student brought a gun to the school.
JCPS Communications Manager Mark Hebert told WDRB News that police were called and searched the school after a student reported that another student may have brought a gun to the school. Atherton High School Principal Stephanie Fluhr later confirmed in a letter to school families Tuesday that a gun was found in a student's backpack.
Atherton was placed on security level 5, Hebert said. That is the district’s highest security level. The school is no longer under a lockdown, Hebert said around 12:15 p.m. Tuesday.
"All students and staff are safe and our building has been given the all clear," Fluhr said in the letter, which was posted by the school on Twitter. "After further review of our building, a gun was located in a backpack. All JCPS policies and procedures will be followed and the student who brought the gun to school will be cited."
Atherton's security level decreased to level 3 from the level 5 lockdown, and classes operated on a normal schedule for the rest of the day, according to Fluhr's letter.
"Families wishing to sign their student out of school should go to the door closest to the gym," Fluhr said in the letter. "This is the area typically used for car riders."
Louisville Metro Police directed questions to Jefferson County Public Schools. An LMPD spokesperson said officers responded "in a supportive role."
Renee Murphy, communications chief for JCPS, said the gun was found in a backpack inside a locker during a second search after the initial sweep of the building.
At least 14 firearms have been recovered from JCPS students so far in the 2021-22 school year, according to data provided by the district and WDRB News reporting. Hebert said JCPS was unsure whether the firearm found at Atherton was loaded.
"I think anytime there is a weapon brought into school it's certainly a concern of ours, but I do want to stress to our families that our schools are still safe places to be," Murphy said. "Schools are still some of the safest places to be in our community.
"We are aware that there had been weapons that have been brought into school this year, and we're going to continue to work with our security team, to work with the community, to work with local law enforcement to continue to be collaborative in this effort."
JCPS has been without school resource officers since the start of the 2019-20 school year, when Louisville Metro pulled LMPD officers from schools because of budget constraints and a divided school board did not approve contracts with other local law enforcement agencies for officers.
The district and Jefferson County Board of Education had been developing policies for prospective JCPS school security officers before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the closing months of the 2019-20 school year. LMPD Chief Erika Shields is among those calling for Kentucky's largest school district to hire an internal team of school resource officers.
Murphy said JCPS planned to resume talks of creating an internal security team. State law now requires school districts to have armed school resource officers on campuses as funding and qualified personnel are available.
"Ultimately it's going to be a decision for our board of education," she said.
The discovery of a firearm at Atherton High comes a day after a gun was found in a Western High School student's backpack and LMPD responded to a stabbing on a JCPS school bus. Murphy said the bus assault is under review and JCPS expects the victim to recover.
"Anytime we have any circumstances whether it's a weapon being brought onto property or a student that's injured, that's of great concern to us," she said.
Such issues within JCPS come at a time of near record violence in Jefferson County, which is on pace to set a new record for the number of homicides in 2021.
"Our kids are a part of our community and we are all in this together, so when it comes to finding solutions, when it comes to finding resolutions, when it comes to working together, we have to do that and it has to be collaborative," Murphy said.
Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
