NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – A Woodside High School parent said it was a scary morning knowing her twin boys were not far from a student with a gun.
Rojeana Hudson got a text no parent wants to receive.
“My son had started texting me and letting me know there was a lockdown at the school because there was a gun at the school,” she said.
Hudson said she couldn’t hold it together.
“I am freaking out,” she said.
A spokesperson from Newport News Public Schools said Woodside High School received a tip prompting a lockdown. NNPS said a gun was found in a student’s belongings.
Hudson said she couldn’t believe those details.
“This is inside the school. A kid got a gun inside the school,” Hudson said.
She thought students were regularly going through metal detectors, but her sons say otherwise.
“They don’t even use the metal detectors that they have,” Hudson said. “So if my kids come to a basketball game at night, they have to walk through a metal detector to get in the gym, but if they come to school every day like they do they never walk through a metal detector…
“Randomly, they will have the metal detectors standing out there for random kids to walk through or a random search but that’s it.”
NNPS said the metal detectors are currently being used randomly at schools and on buses.
A spokesperson from NNPS said the new metal detector systems will roll out Thursday only at Menchville, Warwick and Woodside high schools.
In a message to families and staff members, officials with Woodside High confirmed the launch of the new metal detector system.
“The new detection system is designed to quickly/rapidly scan a larger number of people to ensure timely entry while screening for restricted items,” officials said.
Upon arrival at school, all students, staff and visitors will proceed through the detection system. Students will be asked to remove their Chromebooks from their backpacks and place them on a table before proceeding through the detector.
If the detector’s lights turn red as they proceed through, individuals will be asked to go through the detection system a second time. If the detector’s lights signal red again, individuals will be scanned with a hand-held metal detector and their backpacks, purses and other personal items will be searched.
Hudson’s twin boys now feel uneasy going to school again.
“They think the school thinks it’s a big joke,” Hudson said. “They don’t feel safe at school at all.”
She shares similar concerns.
“I put their lives in the hands of the administrator here at Woodside for them to not take any of the lives seriously,” Hudson said. “It’s a shame I don’t feel safe putting my kids in school.”