SPOKANE, Wash. – New developments have emerged a week after a loaded gun was discovered in a student’s backpack at Shaw Middle School. The incident has spurred discussions about safety measures in Spokane Public Schools.
The student was arrested and placed in Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center following the discovery.
Dr. Adam Swinyard, Superintendent of Spokane Public Schools, discussed the safety of the schools and the broader issue of gun violence. “Our schools are safe spaces to be,” he said. “The probability that students are going to experience that in their K-12 experience is astronomically low. But is the risk there? It is.”
Swinyard addressed the measures taken to ensure student safety, saying, “Our approach to school safety is a layering of a variety of strategies, both preventive and responsive.”
The district meets regularly with the Spokane Police Department to enhance school security.
The incident has prompted some to question how a student was able to bring a loaded weapon to school. Community member Dev Snow suggested, “Metal detectors would definitely help. Either a no backpack policy or a clear backpack policy would also help.”
When asked if metal detectors or clear backpacks were being considered, Swinyard said, “Metal detectors aren’t something that have been researched based to be implemented into schools.” He added that “clear backpacks” have not emerged as a research-based safety strategy.
The National School Safety and Security Services say metal detectors are not a guaranteed safety solution but could serve as a risk-reduction tool. Rutgers University also notes a lack of evidence that clear backpacks improve safety, highlighting the potential impact on students’ privacy rights.
Spokane Public Schools focuses on mental health support and reporting structures. “Having counseling, and mental health programs in place, and then also making sure that we have really good reporting structure so that when something does surface … that we are responding in a really [effective way],” Swinyard explained.
Following the gun incident last week, Spokane Public Schools issued a statement recommending that parents engage in safe firearm storage. This echoes a U.S. Department of Education letter from January urging school administrators to educate parents on the importance of safe gun storage.
The letter states that three-quarters of perpetrators in school shootings acquired firearms from home, emphasizing the critical nature of responsible gun storage.
