Columbia County school leaders discuss safety for academic year

EVANS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - All students were back in the classroom Thursday in Columbia County.

Unfortunately, the school district says a 14-year-old student was arrested at Greenbrier High School and was found with a gun in their backpack.

School s were responding to a report of an unruly student in the class.

We’re told they were arrested without incident.

Hours before the incident, we had a long conversation with Superintendent Dr. Steven Flynt, and he says his focus is on student safety.

“Safety plays into everything we do,” he said.

Your students will be seeing some extra faces on campus this year. Thirty-nine school resource officers are now ing them in the halls.

“Our police department is now going to be working with all of our schools where we will have a trained officer in school and two in high schools,” said Flynt.

While these officers are nothing new, their agency is. Columbia County now has its own police force, and their first assignment is forming relationships with students.

“Safety is everyone’s responsibility. So not just the officers but all of our staff all of our students and our parents have a part to play in our safety,” he said.

Flynt says everyone plays a part when it comes to making sure doors are locked, and visitors are scanned properly.

He says he hopes these new measures will assure parents that their child is in safe hands.

“So the facility and facility upgrades we have and we’ve put into place not only in prior years but also this summer will come into play,” said Flynt.

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