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BB gun sparks expansion of school safety measures at elementary school

The district says it's working to be transparent with parents after what's been called an isolated incident.

HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Hanover Area School District is stepping up security after an elementary school student reportedly had a BB gun in a backpack all day.

Clear backpacks, metal detectors, and no cell phones are just a few of the safety measures the Hanover Area School District already has in place for students grades 6 through 12, but now similar changes are coming for younger students.

"It wasn't that we had to wrangle in a lot to tighten up. It was how do we take what we are already doing, and now we have to apply it to a younger age," said Mason Wooldridge, director of safety and security.

Hanover Area Superintendent Nathan Barrett tells Newswatch 16 earlier this week that an elementary school student reported having a BB pistol on the school bus. The bus driver took swift action.

"Her heroic efforts, she stopped the bus immediately, not knowing if she was putting herself in harm's way, headed back to investigate the student, and lo and behold, she went back there and found it was a pistol-type BB gun that she confiscated," Barrett said.

The district has partnered with the Hanover Township Police Department on the Crimewatch app to alert parents about incidents.

Now at the elementary level, metal detectors will be installed along with the clear backpack rule. The new safety mandate kicks in on Monday, March 6, 2023.

"We were trying to let kids be kids at the elementary level and get any type of character backpack or something of their preference, but now we have scaled it to a K-to-12 effort," Barrett said.

Wooldridge says on top of everything the school is doing, parents and guardians also need to do their part in helping keep all the students safe.

"There's never been more of a time that we need a partnership with parents than right now because, to give you an example, if parents just took 30 seconds to check a backpack, it saves the district hundreds of hours," said Wooldridge.

The BB gun was turned over to Hanover Township police. No one was hurt in the incident.

All are safe….

Posted by Hanover Area School District on Wednesday, February 15, 2023

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