LOUISVILLE, Ky. — New numbers from Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) show they've confiscated guns in our schools every month this school year.
WHAS11 News put in an open records request with JCPS and found they've confiscated guns on 12 separate occasions.
The most recent example from that list happened this week at Fairdale high school. JCPS said a student was filmed on a bus with a gun. And because that student was 19, this past Wednesday he was arrested and taken to Metro Corrections.
Bazan Juan Zayas is charged with unlawful possession of a weapon on school property, a class d felony, for which he could face 1 to 5 years in prison.
Two more guns were taken from Western High school in November. Before that, staff found two guns at PRP between August and October. Atherton, Liberty, Doss, Moore, the list goes on, and each time a similar letter is sent to families saying, 'we value being a part of your child's education." And later, "a gun was found..."
It's not just high schools. Stuart Middle School found a gun in October, McFerran Preparatory Academy confiscated one just last week.
That's an elementary school, with kids as young as five years old.
"It's disappointing," Dwan Hearn said. He has children in JCPS from Kindergarten to Fifth grade. "In the end it makes you wonder what hurt that kid so badly that a kid that young would feel the need to go to school armed?"
It made us wonder, what happens next?
When we asked JCPS for comment, they sent a statement, saying, "Anytime a student brings a weapon into a school it is a concern to us. This is a community issue and it will take all of us working together to come up with solutions...if a student brings a weapon onto school property, they are disciplined following the policies and procedures in our Student Handbook."
We've heard that last part before so here's what the handbook has to say:
Students found with weapons are " referred to an alternative school site for...one calendar year and not ... allowed to return to their previously assigned school." Authorities may be notified and the Office of Student Relations takes it from there.
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