Hundreds of San Jose parents, students and teachers are furious, claiming their schools are unsafe.
In the past few weeks, police have responded to threats and gun incidents in schools throughout the San Jose Unified School District.
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WATCH HERE“I’m nervous every single day, fearful every single day,” said Carla Castillo of San Jose.
“I feel somewhat safe in the sense that I know what to do if someone decides to make my school a graveyard. But I don't feel safe in the sense of our response at the district level,” said SJUSD student Gavin Rust.
Last week, San Jose police arrested a student for taking a loaded ghost gun to Willow Glen High School. A few weeks before that, another student was detained for bringing a loaded gun on campus at Hoover Middle School.
During Thursday’s school board meeting, the community demanded an improved response plan, mental health support for students following incidents and most importantly communication with parents during critical events.
“Coming from them there wouldn’t be any rumors and then we can figure out how to take action. Instead, we need to figure out whether to send our kids to school or keep them home,” said San Jose resident Veronica Smith.
It was the second meeting this week where parents were able to raise their concerns.
The district released the following statement:
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SIGN UP "Our schools are a reflection of our community. We have seen an increase in gun violence across the country, in our state, and in our local community. We also live in a time where social media floods people with information that is often not accurate, which dramatically increases anxiety for the entire community. All threats, even when they are not credible, cause significant disruption, emotions, and fears to our students, families, and employees."
"Specific to San José Unified, we have protocols in place to address every threat to the safety of students and staff in partnership with SJPD, who have done an outstanding job investigating the credibility of threats made against students, staff, and schools. Every threat is fully investigated with continual reassessment of the safety of our students."
