A Houston Elementary School student found an old shotgun shell Friday morning behind a cabinet inside the building. Most days, it wouldn’t cause much concern. But just three days after threats on campus, administrators are taking the discovery seriously.
Dr. Allen Moss, superintendent, said law enforcement was contacted and security footage is being reviewed in an attempt to determine where the shell came from. But he also said school officials “have no idea how long it has even been there.”
There has been heightened awareness on campus after a .45 caliber shell was found in a high school hallway just before classes dismissed Tuesday. Moss believes that discovery led to a student coming forward with information about concerning threats a fellow classmate had made. The threats were found to be credible and the student, a 16-year-old male, faces potential charges through the juvenile system.
Moss does not believe the shotgun shell found Friday is related to any type of threat. But he still contacted police, parents and the media.
“It is not uncommon for students, particularly elementary, to carry with them or in their backpack a small pocketknife, shell casing, bullet or something similar because it is intriguing to them. These are often discovered by chance or a student brings them because they think they are cool and want to show them off,” Moss said. “This in itself is not alarming. However, given the recent events, we have to pursue them, and this takes away from pursuing serious threats and the work we should be doing of educating our kids.”
Moss said communication of these types of incidents will be reviewed just like safety precautions on campus. The district uses Facebook, a messenger program that calls and emails parents as well as the local media to share information.
“We try to communicate everything as efficiently as we can,” Moss said Wednesday after the first incident. “We will obviously learn from this and will set some plans in place for the future.”
He said the first step — even in the case of an old shotgun shell that may have sat undisturbed for a long time — is to contact police.
“We take these things seriously,” Moss said. “We will always contact law enforcement and pursue them. I don’t know if that’s the appearance, but that is always what happens.”
In a letter that was posted online and sent home Friday with students, Moss encouraged parents to regularly check students’ bags to see what they are taking to school and have conversations about what items are not appropriate to be carrying around. He also asked guardians to reinforce the importance of speaking of seeing or hearing something that could be a threat.
“Only by working together can we ensure a safe, educational environment for our kids,” Moss wrote.