Schools react to security concerns

Two Fort Bend County schools, in Sugar Land and Needville, encountered security concerns this week, but neither incident compromised the safety of their students, according to letters from school principals.

Fort Bend ISD Police found an unloaded handgun in a Garcia Middle School student's locker late Tuesday afternoon, Garcia Principal Viretta West said in a letter sent home to parents Wednesday.

The letter said school officials acted on an anonymous tip that a 13-year-old seventh-grader had a weapon on campus. Police were notified and they searched the boy's locker and found a revolver. The boy was taken into custody and charged with possession of a firearm.

A teacher received the anonymous tip, said Lance Hindt, Fort Bend ISD assistant superintendent for middle schools.

The boy taken under custody was sent to the Fort Bend County Juvenile Detention Center, Hindt said. Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken when the boy is released and ready to go back to school, he said. Possession of a firearm is an expellable offense, Hindt said.

West said in her letter that school officials “take seriously any concerns brought to us by students or staff” and that they welcome any information on anything that makes them “feel unsafe or uncomfortable.”

She said anyone with information about the incident can call FBISD Crimestoppers Hotline at 281-491-8477.

Needville lockdown

Needville Elementary School Principal Jeanna Sniffin sent a letter home to parents Wednesday concerning a woman who visited the campus the same day and caused the campus to go into a lockdown situation.

Sniffin said in her letter than the woman, whose name and age could not be verified by Needville ISD Police Chief Joe Wappel, was “an unstable person.”

The woman entered the school, walked around the halls and did not respond to questions from staffers. The school then went into lockdown mode for safety reasons, Sniffin said.

Wappel said the woman, who lives in Needville, did not make any threats and was escorted from the campus, and she was released to her caretaker. There were no further problems after she left, he said.

The letter said the school and city police responded quickly and that the school was secured in a “safe and orderly manner.”