ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, Va. – An anti-Semitic photo and a gun — two things recently found at Rockbridge County High School just 24 hours apart from each other. Parents are outraged and calling on the school to do more to protect students.
Thursday night, Rockbridge County Public Schools sent a press release revealing two incidents that took place at the county high school.
The statement said in part, “A gun and ammunition were confiscated and proper reports to law enforcement were made.”
Michelle and Joe Watkins have two children who attend Rockbridge County High School, the school where the gun was found. They say they weren’t notified about the incident until hours later.
“The student body wasn’t even informed about it. They noticed some police in the school. They did not do a shutdown, they did not notify the students. And it was only when the students started texting their parents, that the school acknowledged there was an issue,” said Joe.
In the same press release, 10 News learned of an anti-Semitic act that took place at the school Wednesday.
“Two students at Rockbridge County High School displayed a Nazi Swastika image on a phone and performed a Nazi Sieg Heil salute in class, while a third student photographed the incident using a phone camera. The image was then forwarded.”
“It created just quite a sense of unease,” said Michelle.
The Watkins’, along with other parents who spoke out on social media, are demanding change
“How do you simply brush something like this off? Why should our kids, or anyone else’s kids feel comfortable being at school tomorrow? Or any other time, when it was dealt with the way it was dealt with today?” said Joe.
10 News has reached out to the school district and the sheriff’s office searching for more answers. We have not heard back.
Read the full statement from Rockbridge County Public Schools here.