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Barrow County School Board faces scrutiny: Parents, teachers call for more safety measures

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Published  November 6, 2024 12:21am EST
Apalachee High School shooting
FOX 5 Atlanta

Emotional school board meeting on deadly shooting

Emotions ran high in a Barrow County School Board meeting where community members voiced their frustrations over the board's response to the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School.

The Brief

    • Emotions remain high in Barrow County with community members expressing frustration at the school board for inadequate safety measures after a deadly shooting at Apalachee High School.
    • Despite the increase in school resource officers and the addition of classroom phones, parents and teachers criticize the school's safety plan as insufficient and call for more action.
    • Layla Renee Contreras, a community advocate, criticizes the school board for not quickly implementing safety measures like a clear bag policy and metal detectors.
    • Some parents are discontent with the disabling of student cell phone service, underscoring its importance during emergencies for maintaining contact.
    • Teachers are allocated 90 minutes per week for therapy, but there is concern that these sessions are tense and that returning to work afterward is not aiding their recovery.

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. - Emotions in Barrow County ran high as some community members voiced frustration over the school board’s response to the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School. Several of those community members addressed school officials at Tuesday night’s board meeting saying not enough is being done to increase safety following the tragedy.

The school board meeting started with district officials thanking groups who have provided resources to the school community since the incident on Sept. 4 and ended with community members saying it’s not enough—calling for additional safety measures to be put in place.

"It was a student that called first responders first, it was a student that first alerted police to what was happening," one parent said.

A little over two months after two teachers and two students were killed, and nine others were injured, trauma still consumes those who were closest to the tragedy.

"My classroom shared a wall with the room where the gunshots began," one faculty member tearfully recounted.

The impact of that trauma was on full display during Tuesday’s board meeting as some parents, staff, and other community members criticized the school district’s safety plan in the weeks since Apalachee fully resumed.

"It was recently stated at a work session that we’re still researching, what—if any, and the fact that ‘if any’ is still on board is beyond disgusting," that parent told school board members

Layla Renee Contreras, founder of Change for Chee, tells FOX 5 her mother and sister were inside the school at the time of the shooting. She spoke out about what she called "a lack of urgency" by board members to implement a clear bag policy and have metal detectors installed.

"It’s extremely disheartening to see that nothing has changed from the moment that this tragedy occurred, and now these kids, and these teachers are going back to school at the sight of the tragedy, and nothing has done for them," Contreras told FOX 5.

According to the district’s website, Barrow County Schools has increased the number of school resource officers on campuses and added classroom phones for teachers. While they are still reviewing feedback on other recommendations, they anticipate this will be completed early next year.

Parents say that the school has also disabled cellular phone service for students inside the building. 

"I can’t check his location, and I think all of us parents that were there in that moment understand how valuable that was to us," she said.

The district offering teachers 90 minutes a week to use for therapy sessions also drew concerns.

"For Apalachee staff, some of our therapy sessions are tense, and returning to the location of our trauma immediately after, is not conducive to our healing," one teacher told board members.

Community members who spoke Tuesday night said they are hoping their voices will be heard, and district officials will consider taking swifter action.