Two charged with having gun in school

By Bob Stuart

Published: May 12, 2008

Two Stuarts Draft Middle School eighth-graders are charged with possessing a weapon on school property after another student saw the gun in a school locker, authorities said Monday.
A student on Friday reported to a teacher having seen the gun a day earlier, Augusta County Superintendent Gary McQuain said. One planned to sell the weapon to the other, officials said. County Sheriff’s deputies recovered the gun from a student’s home.
“The two young men were brought in and patted down,” McQuain said, but no weapon was found.
One student was sent to a juvenile detention center while the other was released to his parents. Both students have been suspended indefinitely.
McQuain said since no gun was found at the school, the school day continued as normal.
A letter to parents advising them of the situation was sent home with students at the end of the school day.
“At no time was a weapon found. Based on the information provided during student interviews, it was determined that a lock-down drill was not required,” said the letter from Stuarts Draft Middle School Principal Scott Musick.
Authorities declined to disclose the type of weapon. McQuain said he was told it was a .22-caliber pistol — a common, low-caliber weapon, but also one used frequently in crimes, according to FBI statistics.
State Department of Education statistics showed that almost 2,400 students in Virginia were disciplined over weapons, with just 49 of those cases involving actual guns, in 2004-05, the most recent year for which data were available. Expulsions for weapons violations have spiked in recent years with the advent of the federal Gun-Free Schools Act, according to the Virginia Youth Violence Project based at the University of Virginia.
McQuain said it is critical for students to tell school officials when they witness a situation like last week’s.
“Thank goodness for the young person who stepped up and did the right thing,” he said.
George Earhart, the school district’s assistant superintendent for administration, said he could not recall a similar incident occurring in Augusta County Schools in a number of years.