Action News Jax Investigates found out the number of guns and weapons found in high schools is decreasing.
The Duval County School District released information that shows numbers at their lowest level in years.
The school district told Action News Jax reporter Courtney Cole students are being more proactive about reporting weapons.
School leaders are excited about the trend but say they won’t be happy until there are zero incidents on school campuses involving guns and weapons.
Are Duval County public high schools safe?
"I think it's safe,” said Irfan Kakacia, a parent of a DCPS student.
"No, I don't think they're as safe as they can be,” said Martha Sacre, a grandparent of two DCPS students.
When Cole spoke to parents, they seemed to have mixed feelings about it.
Numbers released by the Duval County School Police tell a pretty positive story, though.
During the 2015-2016 school year, there were 9 incidents where guns were fired on campus.
That number spiked to 11 during the 2016-2017 school year, but so far during the 2018-2019 school year, there has only been one.
The number of arrests for guns has also dropped from 9 in the 2016-2017 school year, to two during the current school year.
A look at the weapon incidents and arrests tells a similar story, both dropping from double-digits down to just one.
Coming one day after the announcement to put metal detectors in all high schools in 2019, Action News Jax wanted to know what caused these numbers to drop.
Warren Jones, the school board member who represents District 5, said the trend is due to students speaking up.
"The message, 'see something, say something' is resonating with our students. It's serving as a deterrent for those students who may want to bring a weapon on campus,” Jones told Action News Jax.
The Duval County School District also attributes the trend to random screenings of backpacks and lockers and school resource officers building relationships with students.
Laureen Ricks, the spokeswoman for Duval County Public Schools, released this statement regarding the trend:
The downward trends in the high school data are encouraging. We won’t be fully satisfied until we get to zero in these categories.
There are a number of initiatives that could be working together to improve these results in our high schools. Most recently the emphasis on “see something – say something is notable.
Our school resource officers have done a great job building relationships with students, and students know that a random administrative screening of backpacks or lockers is always a possibility.
Looking forward, we are very optimistic about expansion of mental health services for students and the impact that will have on school climate, behavior and academic achievement.
Cox Media Group
