HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - A parent is angry after picking up her child from school to find out a student had a gun on campus. She is upset that the school never notified any parent nor took the proper safety procedures, according to her daughter.
Students are taught that if you see something, say something.
A little girl did exactly that, but what happened next has her in tears and her mother, Caverlina Reid, angry.
Eight-year-old Lilian Spaulding never thought of herself as much of a hero until Monday.
“When she first got in the car she told me, she saved everybody’s life,” said Reid.
On Monday, an Amelia Earhart Elementary school student was accused of not only bringing a gun to school but also pulling it out and pointing it at other students.
One of those students wrote a note and left it in the bathroom, where Spaulding found it.
“And then it said, ‘Please send this note to whoever your teacher is because Steven has a gun,'” said Spaulding.
So she did what the note said and brought it to her teacher.
“She told me to go get the counselor, which was down the hall,” said Spaulding. “I was scared. I didn’t want to walk there, but I did what the teacher told me to do, so no one would get hurt, and then the counselor walked me back to the classroom.”
This third grader knows the difference between right and wrong, and she feels what she was told to do and what happened next was wrong.
“They didn’t have everyone do the proper thing, they didn’t have them hide somewhere they can keep safe and quiet,” said Spaulding. “They just had them doing all their work.”
“Once she gave the teacher the note, that was it. The teacher was supposed to contact the school police and tell the principal, or whatever, she was not supposed to send my daughter back in harm’s way,” said Reid. “What if the child was in the hallway with the firearm and would’ve ended up endangering my daughter’s life?”
Reid is angry.
“No one called me, no one contacted me, no nothing. Once I talked to the kids, the next day, I had to rearrange a meeting that got cancelled several times,” she said.
All Reid said she had received was a generic voicemail.
Spaulding is still shaken about what happened.
“I hope that the kid doesn’t do it anymore and he doesn’t bring the gun to school anymore, and I hope his parents learn better,” she said.
As for what she hopes the school system does about this, she said, “I hope they do the proper thing next time.”
The school district told 7News, the principal did meet with parents of the student who brought the gun to school. They also claimed that the counselor and teacher watched Spaulding walk in the hallway between classes.
They said the parent [Reid] met with the principal, the assistant principal and SRO on Wednesday. The parent might be referring to previous meetings unrelated to this incident that were rescheduled.
The school district also said the student who brought the gun will be facing criminal charges. The parents of the child received a citation and they are set to appear in court.
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