OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Extra caution was put into place at Webster Stanley Middle School Tuesday, after an 8th grade student allegedly brought a gun to class the day before.
“Fortunately our training with our students and our staff is, ‘if you see something say something,'” said Bryan Davis, superintendent of Oshkosh schools. “So that training paid itself off big yesterday.”
The Oshkosh Police Department says a school resource officer learned that a student had brought a gun to school.
“Our students saw the weapon on campus,” said Davis. “They were able to get to a trusted adult who immediately went into investigation, involved the police department.”
At the time of the incident being reported, the student was no longer at the school. Davis says staff still instantly responded and contacted the police.
“There’s always just a regular routine of making sure we know where students are.”
Follow-up investigation located the allegedly involved student as well as the gun.
“In this case, there was a student that wasn’t at school so be able to locate that student at their house, so just a natural progression that we go through,” said Davis.
In a letter sent to parents by principal Kristy Levy, it states “disciplinary action against the student will be taken as appropriate.”
“You have seen teenagers,” said Sergio Guerrero with Samaritan Counseling. “Some of them are pretty moody, some are like, ‘Yeah let’s go!'”
Guerrero says middle schoolers start feeling more emotions while growing up, which can lead to spontaneous decisions.
“So part of this is, ‘Well I’m growing, I could be mad, I could be sad but I don’t know how to express this,'” said Guerrero. “There are impulsive behaviors based on emotions.”
In Levy’s letter, it says the investigation was complete by 7 p.m.
“We want to make sure that students that are having concerns and feel maybe they need to bring a weapon, have a place to reach out to,” said Davis. “So certainly our counselors, our staff, our administrators are always there to talk with any students or families having concerns so we can get to the root cause right away.”
The students involved were taken into police custody and the weapon in question was confiscated by the police department.
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