Redlands Unified School District increases security measures after student caught with loaded gun
This week, the Redlands Unified School District sent a letter to parents announcing increased security measures after a Moore Middle School student was caught with a gun and bullets on campus in March.
"You should never feel like your kid… You've got to worry about if your kids are going to come home in one piece," said Rudy Gutierrez, the father of two RUSD students.
Christine Stephens, an RUSD spokesperson, said the district was not going to wait to make changes.
The incident prompted an urgent parent conference that night to reassure the community.
"Yes, I hear them, whether it's show up to our board meeting, emails that we receive from our families to what we see on social media, we know that safety is a huge concern for our families, and we want to ensure that our families and our students know that we want to make safety and we know safety is the number one priority for us," Stephens said.
As a result, RUSD said it'll have all its students go into their schools through one entrance. They are also planning to add more cameras, higher fencing and more randomized police dog searches across campuses.
"It's reassuring. It makes me feel a little bit more comfortable knowing that the steps that they already have in place, they're going to actually go a step further with it," Gutierrez said. "If there are things that they can come up with to try to make it safer. I'm all for that."
Redlands police said the parents of the student who brought the gun to campus were cited and released, adding that "improper storage of a weapon… is frequently charged in circumstances when kids get ahold of firearms."
While police said they will hold parents responsible, other parents added that it takes everyone to make sure that kids are safe at school.
"It's very important," Gutierrez said. "It's the one time during their lives where I feel like I have no control over their well-being, so I have to depend on the school to pick up that slack for me."
