Violence and drug incidents prompt Lynchburg schools to increase security

ROANOKE, Virginia. — According to the Virginia State Department's latest data on student behavior and administration response, Lynchburg City Public Schools had five cases in which they had to contact police during the 2022-23 school year.

There were two incidents of children in possession of projectile weapons at Bedford Hills Elementary and EC Glass High. Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation reported one incident of actual or attempted robbery. Additionally, EC Glass High reported two separate incidents. One was a student attempting to distribute or sell drugs and another was an assault committed with a firearm or other weapon.

These findings were part of the latest student conduct and administrative response data that schools are required to report to the state Department of Education. The report describes instances of student conduct and how department heads responded. It includes things that happened on school grounds, on buses and during school-sponsored activities. They are still compiling data for the last school year.

Lynchburg City Schools also reported 11 cases of written threats, intimidation, incitement of violence, injury or harm to another student or other person. Police were notified only if the threat was directed at a staff member, unless the student making the threat was disabled. There were also 67 non-written threats and 85 cases of children hitting staff members.

The department received 56 reports of student possession of controlled substances – illegal inhalation drugs, synthetic hallucinogens or unapproved prescription drugs.

At the same time, there were 415 cases in which children behaved recklessly and thereby posed a risk of injury to themselves or others. Students pushed, shoved, hit or bit each other 388 times. There were also 144 fights.

10 News reached out to Lynchburg City Public Schools to find out what safety measures they are taking.

The department said they installed new entrances at three schools over the summer, including Dunbar Middle School, Paul Munro Elementary and Hutcherson Early Learning Center.

Visitors are now admitted by staff and must register at the new entrance.

“We also put ballistic film on the windows to make them harder to break through. The glass panels and glass entrances. We also worked with our security team and our school safety officers on new reunification plans. And so all of our schools have been trained on how to reunite students in the event of a real emergency. We've revised all of our manuals and emergency crisis plans,” said Derrick Brown, Chief Academic and Student Services Officer for Lynchburg City Schools.

Brown said the city of Lynchburg also has academies for children who have had behavioral problems at their schools.

In the 2022-23 school year, the department also implemented an alternative suspension program. Instead of children going home to serve their suspensions, they now go to another building.