After incidents involving school threats and violence on school property in the past few days, one Richmond County Board of Education member proposed temporarily suspending homecoming parades and tailgating on school property.
On Sept. 16, a few minutes after 9 p.m., a series of gunshots fired outside of the Laney High School’s football stadium resulting in two vehicles being struck with gunfire and the arrest of two 17-year-olds.
The following day on Sept. 17, immediately after T.W. Josey High School’s football game, a shooting occurred causing two victims to suffer gunshot wounds. Richmond County Sheriff’s Office reported an altercation prior to the shooting, and the incident occurred in the school’s tailgating area.
As an unexpected solution to the recent threats, Richmond County’s Board of Education Jimmy Atkins, representative from District 8, introduced a proposal that the board temporarily suspend all homecoming parades and tailgating on school property until a more secure plan or details for both could be provided.
MORE: Suspect wanted for shooting two teens after Josey football game
“Through the years, we have allowed tailgating to take place on school board property and probably the biggest rule is no alcohol. I have walked through these tailgates, year-in and year-out, and there’s alcohol consumption going on. I saw many pictures from this past Saturday of alcohol being consumed on what appeared to be school property, and what also appeared to be by minors,” said Atkins. “I’ve also smelled marijuana being consumed outside of or in the tailgate areas, and I truly have a concern that I don’t think this board can wait until next month on all of this to be addressed.”
Atkins said he admits Richmond County is not able to account for or control what actions other students or people will take; however, he believes the safety of students and the community needs to be priority over events such as homecoming.
Wayne Frazier immediately rebutted saying he believed Atkins’ proposal to be “disrespectful” and a “slap in the face” to the school board’s staff in not allowing them time to come up with a plan.
Despite Frazier’s comment, District 10 representative Helen Minchew supported Atkins in his endeavor to temporarily suspend homecoming parades and tailgating as she admitted a huge increase to school violence from when she was a student attending school.
In further response to Atkins’ motion, recent school violence, and the posting of a Facebook video involving a Richmond County student resource officer and a parent, other board members had a lot to say as well.
“We’re sitting here talking about what’s going on in our school system, but it’s not the system – it’s our community. Let’s be real folks; it’s your sisters, your brothers, your aunts, your uncles, your nieces and nephews and, in some cases, it’s your mothers and your fathers,” said District 9 representative Venus Cain. “We have Facebook pandemonium in this city. We have grown folks putting out lies and don’t even bother to find out the truth. We know who these kids are and who these people are in our community that are not only destroying our community but destroying our school system.”
Shwanda Griffin, District 1 representative, said she did not believe in disbanding events like the homecoming parades, which she believes unite the community in positive ways.
Vice President Charlie Walker Jr. said he could not support depriving students of events like homecoming parades and tailgating after losing so much to COVID-19. Faced with already taking away seniors’ important experiences due to the pandemic, Walker said he could not, with a guilt-free conscience, vote for suspending upcoming events that he himself looked forward to as a teenager.
After backlash from several board members, such as Cain, Walker and Frazier, the motion was denied with a resounding 7-3 vote.
MORE: Two 17-year-olds arrested in Friday’s shooting
“For me to sit here, anymore, and listen to certain folks and some folks post judgment on this school system is not flying with me no more. We need to face the fact; we got a problem in our community which is spilling over into our schools. Period. Point blank. I don’t like what I see, and I don’t like, every night, laying my head down in the bed and saying, ‘Let everyone wake up/ Don’t let me hear when I wake up in the morning another child has been killed,’” said Cain. “Well, people wake up. Either you break your child, or the system is going to break your child; you choose which one it is, but to hold this whole community hostage for the ill-wills of people in this community is wrong. Either we get bold and brave enough to stand up for what is right, or we’re going continue to be in the mess we in.”
Following the vote, Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Bradshaw said the violence has heavily affected students’ operations and he seeks to keep focusing on improving students’ academic performance. Bradshaw said he believes through parent outreach and communication, families can help reduce or even eliminate the violence.
“We are aware that schools cannot live apart from the community; therefore, we are asking the community to continue taking an active role in speaking to our students about making good decisions,” said Bradshaw. “As a school system, we continue to promote high standards, issue appropriate consequences when needed and promote a positive learning environment for all of our schools. Parents, please continue to discuss the high expectations we have for our Richmond County students.”
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While the school board is in the process of attempting to acquire more security and officers from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and the Marshal’s Office, Chief Mantrell Wilson, Director of School Safety and Security, said the school system is sharing information with the Sheriff’s Office and reexamining their current safety measures.
“We do have security throughout the game, find a police officer, get to a safe location, and share whatever information with them,” he said. “We have several security measures anytime we identify an area that needs to be beefed up, then we work on it; however, sharing the security measures that we’re putting in place is not always the best practice. Those things sort of need to remain confidential due to people being able to try and circumvent them if we share them.”
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
