Dear Key Communicators:

By now, I am sure most, if not all of you have seen or heard about a situation at Collins Elementary yesterday where a student brought a gun to school. I would like to take this opportunity to share the truth of yesterday’s event with you, including some facts that the media failed to report in their efforts to sensationalize this incident.

The student did in fact show the gun to a fellow classmate during morning transition. Unfortunately that classmate did not report the gun. The student did not pass around the gun in class as was reported erroneously on the news. Thankfully, after the student showed another classmate the gun, that courageous classmate reported the incident to the teacher who immediately alerted administration at approximately 1:30 p.m.

Alief Police officers were called to campus to investigate and took the weapon and student into custody. The student is being disciplined according to district policy and was removed from campus. The Collins Elementary staff did exactly what they should have and the situation was quickly handled without incident. As soon as the investigation was completed, a call out informing parents about the incident was sent out at 4:45 p.m. to all parents who have phone numbers listed in the Home Access Center.

Out of an overabundance of caution, Alief ISD is implementing additional security measures across all campuses, including elementary campuses. You can expect to see an increased police presence on campus, strict adherence to sign-in and identification procedures for visitors on campus, and the implementation of random weapons checks on students carried out using our walk through metal-detectors as well as our metal detecting wands.

We are also encouraging our parents to please be aware of what their child is bringing to and from school in his or her backpack. Again, I would like to thank the Collins staff for responding promptly and properly and I have encouraged all of our employees to immediately report suspicious or illegal behavior to campus administrators and the police.

Thank you for serving as a key communicator and for your efforts in helping to provide a safe and secure educational environment for our students and staff.

HD Chambers
Superintendent of Schools