MEBANE, N.C. — Alamance-Burlington School System officials are stressing the districts zero-tolerance policy after they were made aware of a text message threat and confiscated a BB gun on campus Thursday.
The district said the incident happened before school hours so a lockdown was not necessary. District officials said they need the help of families also to keep their schools safe.
"What’s unique about Alamance County is that we are putting our cards on the table, so to speak, so we are letting families know about these things that happened in our schools every single day," said Les Atkins, public information officer for ABSS. "We are posting them on social media and we want (families') help like talk to your child at home and say look these things are not going to be tolerated in school whether you were joking or not."
ABSS said the school SRO and law enforcement are involved in Thursday's incident. They also said if any student is involved in making a threat whether verbal, written, or electronic they could face criminal charges and/or disciplinary action.
Zero-tolerance
Last week, ABSS Superintendent Dr. Dain Butler announced the district would have zero tolerance for school violence after three separate incidents.
Dr. Butler said possession of weapons, assault on staff or adults, fighting or drug possession will lead to very strong consequences.
Two of those incidents happened last Wednesday when a student threatened to bring a gun to Turrentine Middle School and a bomb threat was called into Smith Elementary.
Burlington Police are still investigating the most recent incidents, but so far have not located a threat at either school.
"We can do better than this and we will do better," said Butler in a video posted to social media. "I hope that next week and all the weeks will be better. Our community deserves my attention to this matter and I appreciate your support on this as we move forward in the school year."