MILWAUKEE — Feelings about attending school have shifted for Robert Ramos, an eighth grader at the Milwaukee School of Languages.
This change comes after the arrest of a 13-year-old girl who brought a loaded gun to school on Thursday.
“Somebody could have been seriously injured or killed,” Ramos said.
Ramos said that many students were unaware of the situation until an email was sent to parents later that day. Ramos thinks the school could have implemented a different procedure during the incident.
“The school could have put us on lockdown,” he said. “They could have said, ‘Okay, there’s something going on in our school right now. We’re going to put you guys on lockdown; we’re going to have a code yellow, don’t leave the class.’”
Watch: 8th grade student speaks out after gun incident at Milwaukee School of Languages
School officials referred to the gun as an “inappropriate item” in an email sent to families Thursday night. Ramos believes Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) could have handled the situation better.
“MPS could have done better,” he said.
When asked why he wanted to share his story with TMJ4, Ramos stated, “I wanted to reach out because I want to stand up as a student and I want to stand up for our community. And I feel like the community should know what’s going on.”
An MPS parent reached out with similar concerns.
"When I saw what happened at MSL, I just thought oh yeah it's just another day at MPS,” she said.
The mom also works for the district. She said she has seen similar incidents at the school she works at.
"We're a huge district, so we're not going to believe that these things can't happen. The problem is, I think it's going to take something tragic happening before MPS goes oh maybe we should have this policy in place,” the mom said.
MPS sent the following statement Tuesday night:
“MPS leadership appreciates the students and families who have shared their feedback and concerns with us regarding the response to an incident at Milwaukee School of Languages. We take that feedback seriously. This continues to be investigated and MPS has conducted several meetings as we continue to address the safety procedures from that day. We have provided additional security to the school, met with students and staff. We continue to be in contact with parents to ensure the safety of all students. Parents can contact the school directly for any information that affects their student enrolled at the school.”
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