The recent incidents, while disturbing, are no reason to rush to install walk-through metal detectors at every school and have every campus locked tight, Superintendent Howard Hinesley said. Because that doesn't stop kids anyway if they want to do it. The district is most proud of the anger management, peer mediation, conflict resolution and character courses that are offered at most schools. All middle and high schools have school resource officers, and some high schools have two. Many schools try to channel student traffic through a single entrance and exit or ask students and teachers to wear identification tags.
All schools have crisis plans, and safety training is offered.
In the Meadowlawn incident, St. Petersburg police Detective Anthony Peterson was at the school Tuesday afternoon to teach seventh-graders about how to tell whether someone is in a gang. When the class was finished, a girl approached Peterson and told him she saw someone with a gun in school. The girl told him she saw a person, later identified as Morrison, drop the gun on the floor when he entered or left school property. Peterson went looking for Morrison, who left the campus. The unloaded revolver was in Morrison's waistband.