JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A News4Jax investigation into guns found at Duval County's public schools in the last school year determined that more weapons were found and more students arrested than school officials had previously disclosed.
During the 2014-2015 school year, 17 students were arrested in 14 separate incidents, and we've learned one school employee was also arrested for carrying a loaded handgun at school as well.
"Every single example of a gun or a knife being bought to school is concerning to me," Superintendant Nikolai Vitti said Friday.
In most of the cases, the guns found on campus were loaded and in a book bag or a student's locker. Vitti said the district has not received any information at any level of a student with intent to use the weapon on campus.
Vitti said over the past two years, the district has expanded the use of random searches at bus stops and in school.
"Mainly book bags and student's lockers, and it's all done randomly to comply with the law," Vitti said. "If we have intel that something is happening in a classroom, then that would constitute a search."
There were five arrests for guns on campuses since January, including the arrest of a 34-year-old Kenneth Davison, a teacher's assistant at the Mount Herman Exceptional Student Center, on Feb. 9.
In one instance at Ribault High School in March, 24-year-old Ricco Jones had a gun in his vehicle. Students ran back on campus and reported the incident. Jones was arrested, along with a 19-year-old and a juvenile.
The only incident so far in the 2015-2016 school year was the arrest in September of a 11-year-old Sadie Tillis Elementary student who had a loaded gun in his book bag.
Vitti says he is encouraged to that most in most cases involving guns and students, their peers were the ones who alerted teachers or authorities.
"What we are seeing is a level of transparency and ownership and openness on the part of the students to feel comfortable to (notify an) adult that a gun or a knife was at school," Vitti said.
Andrew Wheaton, who has three kids in public schools, is concerned about the reports of guns on campus, but agrees that responsible kids can make the difference.
"It's good that they report it to a grownup so they check it out and confiscate the weapon," Wheaton said. "That is a good thing."
"Now they are speaking up. They're not afraid," parent Tohanna Martin said. "That one thing I tell my daughter, 'If you go to school and you don't think something is right, you should speak up. That way you can speak up and more people won't get hurt.'"