Parents at an Avon school experienced firsthand the impact of a new state law banning cellphone use in schools after a student brought a firearm into an elementary school classroom on Monday.
Parents were notified within two hours of the start of school that a fifth-grader at Avon Intermediate School East had brought a gun to school, but the communication they have received since then has parents wanting more transparency and worrying that the school district is not taking the situation seriously enough.
At a time when school shootings are commonplace for students and parents are concerned about their children's safety at school, school districts need to convey clear, concise and informative messages even if the situation is resolved quickly and without injuries, the Avon parents said.
“It was just really sad and scary that this happened in our community,” said Angie McEldowney, mother of an Intermediate East student and wife of an IndyStar staffer. “And the fact that we didn't get a lot of details from the school and the wording of what we did get seemed to dismiss the seriousness of the situation.”
She pointed to a portion of the district's email that said, “There was never any immediate danger.”
“But the fact is that a gun with ammunition entered a fifth-grade classroom yesterday” – information that was not immediately communicated to parents, McEldowney said.
Later Tuesday, the district said there was ammunition in the backpack, but the gun was not loaded.
Avon School communications coordinator Kevin Carr told IndyStar on Tuesday that district leaders took immediate action to ensure parents were notified as soon as they learned about the gun.
“We will always try to provide clear, direct communication to parents in a timely manner, but we also recognize that doing so may miss many of the nuances of a situation,” Carr said.
What happened: Student caught with gun on Avon school bus after other children raise alarm
The firearm was first noticed by a student as he rode the bus to school. After the bus arrived on campus, the fifth-grader walked into his classroom with the gun in a backpack and then took the backpack to a locker.
The child who saw the gun reported it to teachers. School officials then retrieved the gun from the locker and removed the fifth-grader from the classroom. The student was taken home by his parents.
Carr said the intent of the district's initial message to parents was to make sure families knew their children were not in immediate danger.
“We didn’t want parents to have to read an entire message to find out if their child is safe and out of danger,” Carr said.
McEldowney also wished the district had told parents that students were not notified of the incident during the school day, a message that was not delivered to parents until hours after students had left school, according to emails reviewed by IndyStar.
“When you don’t have that information, you worry about whether your child will be anxious and anxious all day at school,” McEldowney said.
Concerns about the mobile phone ban policy
Nakia Driver, another mother of an Intermediate East student, said because initial communication was vague, she wanted to reach her daughter immediately by cellphone to check on her, but that was not possible due to school policy.
The cell phone policy states that devices must be turned off and kept in students' lockers throughout the day. This is in line with the state's new cell phone law, which requires schools to prohibit the use of devices in classrooms unless it is for educational purposes, medical reasons or in an emergency.
Driver believes that these policies need to be reviewed.
“Anything can happen – the parents could get into a car accident or we might have to change a pick-up time at the last minute – but mostly I just want to be sure I can reach my child,” Driver said.
The driver's ten-year-old daughter had not noticed the incident and was therefore initially unimpressed. But now she is asking herself further questions, such as how the schoolgirl had gotten a gun in the first place.
On the day of the incident, Carr told WTHR that the gun belonged to the student's parents and was left unsecured. But on Wednesday, he told IndyStar that those statements were “presumptuous” and that he did not know how the student came into possession of the gun.
More and more children are bringing weapons to school
In recent years, guns have become a growing problem on school campuses in the Indianapolis area.
According to the Indiana Department of Education, the number of incidents in which students were disciplined for possessing a firearm at school in Marion County increased from around 40 per year between 2018 and 2020 to more than 55 in 2022.
“100% avoidable”: Record number of children killed by unsecured weapons in Indiana
The general increase in access to firearms for children ages 17 and younger is having a deadly impact on youth in the Indianapolis area. Last year, Marion County saw 28 juvenile homicides.
The last time a gun appeared on campus in the Avon School District was nearly a year ago, when a high school student brought a handgun to Avon Academy.
Carr could not say what exactly might happen to the student at Intermediate East, citing privacy policies, but said the fifth-grader would not be able to return to school until the entire disciplinary process is complete.
According to Avon's disciplinary policy, a student who brings a firearm to school can be suspended for up to 10 days and excluded from classes for the remainder of the school year. Principal Scott Wyndham can reduce the length of the suspension at his discretion.
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The district is also working with the Hendricks County District Attorney's Office on possible criminal prosecution. IndyStar reached out to the district attorney's office for an update but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Indianapolis Public Library branches offer gun locks during regular hours. Federal law also requires gun locks to be included with the purchase of a firearm.
Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or [email protected]Follow her on Twitter (X): @CarolineB_Indy.
