JEFFERSON CITY, MO -- On Tuesday two students were arrested at Columbia's Douglas High School for bringing a gun to school. That incident prompted KRCG to ask area districts if our schools are safe?
Jefferson City Public School spokesman David Luther said they think their schools are some of the safest places kids can be. In the past 20 years they've only had two incidents involving real guns.
Blair Oaks superintendent Dr. Jim Jones says his district doesn't have a problem with gangs or violence, but they're always looking to prevent serious incidents, "Most important are positive relations, that relationship needs to be students, faculty staff, building administrators, school resource officers. One of the things that we focus on is open lines of communication."
Jones said the only time he remembers a gun being brought to one of his schools was during hunting season. He explained it was in a car, and was an accident.
We got differing opinions about school safety when we went to High Street.
Michael Flynn said," The safest place for kids to be is schools, and you have exceptions to the rule of course, but overall the safest place they can be is at school.”
Jack Joost said, "Anything could happen at a school, kids could bring in anything."
Kim Marquis told us, "There aren't any security systems and children can bring guns with them without being caught, there is just to much going on in the world today."
Columbia School officials say their teachers handled Tuesday's gun situation appropriately, they recognized suspicious behavior and followed through. Officials said nobody was hurt and nobody was threatened.
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