IN OUR SCHOOLS
OUR CHILDREN:
Armed and Dangerous?
Two School Board Members Say Metal Detectors an Option
B> KAREN M. HANNON
and MARK R. MQSS
Chronicle Staff Writers
If gun-related incidents con
tinue to increase in the schools,
officials should look at installing
metal detectors, two members of the
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
Board of Education said.
However, other board members
suggested that such measures may -
send students the wrong message,
and that more creative approaches
are needed to resolving student dis
putes so they won't reach the point
where a weapon is viewed as the
solution.
"1 don't think we need metal
detectors yet. and I hope it doesn't
get to that point," Nancy I. Griffith
said. "It would be an enormous task
and expense to try to cover all the
doors on school campuses. But if it
got to that point, the board would at
least look into it."
Grace C. Efird, another board
member, said she would not be
opposed to the measure if the situa
tion gets worse.
"If the need becomes that
severe. I'm personally in favor of
using anything that will reduce the
likelihood of someone being hurt or
killed," Efird said. "I know that
costs money, and I hope it would
not ha\e to come to that. But it" the
measure would prevent an) further
instances. I certainh w ould go along
with whatever it takes."
Over the past tew days, several
board members, in separate inter
views, talked about w ays to stem the
tide of increased school violence.
Board member Nancy Wooten
said she has received calls from
parents whose child has been
expelled from school because of
violating the weapons policy. She
said they wanted her to intercede
and get the child re-instated.
? "They all say the policy is too
stnek." Wooten said. But this is a
zero tolerance rule and 1 think it's an
appropriate policy. The child knows
that you shouldn't do it. "
A. Gt Larrimore. director of
? auxiliary services for the school sys
tem. said each of the high schools
have band-held metal detectors.
Griffith and Efird were speaking of
metal detectors that are placed in
doorways.
What's needed more than metal
detectors. Wooten said, is doing a
better job in offering ways to solve
disputes.
' "The schools do not crack down
hard enough or soon enough on dis
putes." she said. She believes that
Geneva Brown
the schools need to involve more
adult mediators in student disputes
to, in effect, nip confrontations in
the bud.
Board members echoed another
common theme in addressing the
problem: a possible solution begins
at home.
"It's broader than kids bringing
weapons to school. Efird said. "It's
a societal problem. We need to look
at where they get the guns, who"
owns the guns and where they're
kept.
In all likelihood, they get the
guns from their own homes." she
? said
Efird said more emphasis
r Mary P. W ood
should be put on talking with the
parents and training them on the
dangers of having weapons at home
w ithin easy reach of their children.
We all agree that we cannot
tolerat'e (weapons) in our schools,"
Efird said. "We cannot afford to let
our children be fearful of attending
school and our parents be fearful of
their children attending school."
Griffith said that of the inci
dents involving guns in schools that
she knows of. students brought them
from home.
"At some point, the guardians
of these children need to be held
accountable." Griffith .said. "Part of
being an adult is being responsible
Grace Efird
for what's in your home."
Board member Genevte B.
Brown agrees that parents need to
become more responsible. v
" Parents" need to become a little
more accountable for the things their
kids go through." she said.
Board member Mary Wood
said parents should keep closer tabs
on their children. >
"A large number of our students
aren't supervised as much. as they
used to be," she said. "Most of the
time, parents don't even know their
\ancy Griffith
kids are carrying guns." * ?
Board members said they have
discussed the issue in private and at
board meetings.
"Every board membef wants to
ensure as much as possible that the
schools are a safe place for students
and teachers," Griffith said. "The
message that the board is trying to
send out is if you bring a gun on
campus, you're gone. It's as simple
as that."
Teacher Charged with Possessing Cocaine
By M ARK R MOSS
C hromc-ie Staff Wnter
X band director at South Park
High School has been suspended
with pay after being arrested last
week and charged w ith possession of
cocaine.
James Funches. 49. of 1464
Brookwood Drive, was arrested on
March 31 around 6 p.m. in the 500
block of Goler Court.Winston-Salem
Police Lt. F. W. Jones said. Officers
were on foot patrol in the area
because of it is known for drug deal
ing. Jones said.
Funches was approached by one
of the three officers on patrol and
consented to being searched. Jones
Students Hel
most of the high schools and middle
schools^but have been made obsolete
in most schools. Alderman Larry
Womble reacted first with surprise
v then anger when told that the practice
of holding students in a padded room
still existed.
"If you get to a point that a stu
dent needs to be locked in a room, for
any reason, that student needs to be
placed in a professional treatment
facility," he said.
Womble. an assistant principal at
Paisley Middle School, said school
counselors are not equipped to
administer the tvp e of counseling
these students require. School coun
selors mostly are equipped to deal
with academic counseling, he said.
Elsa Woods, director of Forsyth
middle schools, agreed that some of
the students at Petree might belong in
a treatment facility, but she added
' that the school system must first
afford that child every chance to suc
ceed there. Woods said school offi
cials sometimes "bend over back
wards" in giving a child that chance.
"But sometimes you can't
i .
said. The officers found cocaine and
a crack pipe with crack in it. he said.
Funches was charged with pos
session of cocaine and possession of
drug paraphernalia. He was released
without bail with an April 23 date in
Forsyth County Court.
Douglas Punger. Forsyth
schools attorney, said schools
superintendent Larry D. Coble doe
sn t have to wait for the outcome of
the legal process to decide Funches'
professional tare. He has up to 40
days to conduct an investigation.
Punger said. Because certain acts of
misconduct might be viewed as so
wrongful, the superintendent might
not take that prior record into con
d In Room
because getting an education in not
She said institutionalizing a stu
dent is something that is done only
after extremely careful consideration.
"Putting a label on a child or
putting a child out of school is not
something you do lightl\. Woods
said in an interview. Once you send
a child to an institution or put them
out of school, that's something they
wear for a lifetime."
She said that for marginal calls.
Petree has implemented a day-tieat
ment program.
Lam1 W. Holland, the assistant
principal at Petree Middle School,
said students there are placed in the
"timeout room when they become
abusive or exhibit threatening behav
ior toward a teacher or any other
school official. He said the room is
"very rarely used."
"The mission of Petree is to deal
with students with behavioral prob
lems." he said. "Sometimes a pretty
good percentage of students arc con
nected with the judicial system, and
are on probation. We try to provide a
sideration." Hunger said.
Flinches taught band for two
periods at South Park, then went to
Paisley Middle School where he
also taught. 1 really don't know
what to say and what not to say,"
said Sam Puryear. Sr.. the 'South
Park principal. "I was really sur
prised."
Puryear said Funches wasn't at
his school long enough during the
day foj- them to get to know, each
other well. He hadn t noticed any
work-related problems, and there
was nothing about his work habits.
Puryear said, "that would send me a
signal.' It's a .sad situation." he said.
I hate to see a black man go down
Guns, Violence
"The availability of weapons
is one reason why young people
hav?, ~^ons on campus,"
Puryear said. "It would not be a
problem for me to go in many of
these students' homes and find a
weapon for a kid to use."
There are two other factors
%
that concern school administrators
and law-enforcement officials, as
well: Offenders are getting
younger and the violent confronta
tions are no longer confined to stu
dent against student. Last week. av
12-year-old female student at
Hanes Middle School was .charged
with assault on a law-enforcement
after fighting with a school liaison
officer. During the 1991-92 school
year, there were 15 instances
from page A 1
where students assaulted faculty
members in Forsyth schools,
according to a report released last
week by the state Department of
Public Instruction. The report coin
cides with the work of a task force
on school safety set up by Gov.
Jim Hunt. The task force will rec
ommend solutions next week, said
Kay Williams, chief consultant of
communications at the Department
of Public Instruction. Students
caught with weapons at school cur
rently face long-term suspension
with recommendation for expul
kids in school, and -kids a have a
right to an education. Yet, you
can't have them in school having
weapons, too."
facility for them to come and we tend
Petree. an alternative school
located on Old Greensboro Road in
the eastern quadrant of the city, has
about 140 students and 10 adminis
trators. Most of Petree's students have
been removed from mainstream
schools and a number of them are
behaviorally emotionally handi
capped. Holland said.
S. Reed Jarvis. the county's
deputy fire marshal, said that because
the room is not mechanically locked
with a key. it does not violate county
fire codes. He said the lock is a
rolling block" type of lock that sus
pends when pressure is removed. He
likened it to the type of lock found on
bams or horse stables.
There is not a mechanical locl^
on the door ? this is something we
were very careful to make sure the
room did not have." .Jarvis said. "If
something happens and the teacher
has to leave, the door automatically
opens because the lock is hand-held.
There is no way anyone can be
mechanically locked in the room."
Board
Bolton said he is currently
paying $205 a month to the
woman.
The Citizens Review Board is
being formed to hear complaints
k peed against the police depart
ment T'mc board will investigate
tiiose complaints and report the
results to the city manager.
Four of the nominees are
African Americans: Tonja C.
Adams: Deborah T. Daniels; and
Alfred Harvey.
James Flinches
like that."
Tom Bohlinger. the principal at
Paisley, refused to comment.
from page A1
Schools attorney Douglas
strategy designed to calm an emo
tional student who may momentarily
be dangerous to himself and others.
"The theory behind it is that
when students become agitated or
upset, it gives them a period of
timeout separate from other stu
dents." Punger said. "It can be a
worthwhile behavior modification
program. When used properly, it is
one of the measures that can be used
to allow a student to remain in school
without becoming suspended or
"excluded." -
But that does not satisfy
Womble.
"The school system." he said, "is
of the notion that it can treat any
child no matter what the extreme sit
uation might be." It then tries to
implement programs to address stu
dents who have a special problem, he
said.
"There may come a time that the
school system can't be all things to all
people." he added.
from page A1
Clyde T. Cutler, a counselor at
the Samaritan Inn. withdrew his
name. Wood nominated Richard
W. Gray Jr. as his replacement.
The other nominees are Beat
rice L. Ackenbom-Kelly; Linda H.
Gilbert; Thomas H. Lowe: Robert
B. Rasco: Robert R. Sowers; and
Thomas E. Styers Jr.
This week, the Board of Alder
men voted not 10 act on the nomi
nations. The board will discuss it
again at its April 19 meeting.
The Chronicle. The Choice!
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