Last Friday many parents from Ridgeland High School answered calls from their teenagers, resulting in a mass exodus from the school filled with panic.

According to school officials, what had started out as a fight between three individuals more than a week earlier escalated into a rumor among students that promised retaliation in its most dreaded delivery, the use of a gun.

Chris Chambers, Walker schools director of students services, described the seriousness of the incident. “The times we are in, we have to take every report as if it were the gospel, so safety has to be the number one concern. So we were searching and investigating. We had added security. We had the Sheriff’s Department there. We had school personnel there. The whole central office was at Ridgeland on Friday offering our support.”

To the relief of all parties involved, the rumors of a pending fight through the use of a gun turned out to be nothing more than a rumor.

“The kind of hysteria the whole event brought out is a sad commentary for the times,” Chambers said.

Stacey Meeks, school resource officer for schools in LaFayette, said he believes an event like the one at Ridgeland is proof that more resource officers are needed in the schools.

“Some-thing I’d love to see is an officer in every school,” Meeks said. “I think honestly, in today’s time, we need that.”

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Dispelling rumors

According to Chris Chambers, director of student services, a fight involving three male students, black and white, occurred at Ridgeland High School in late February. Some students then spread a rumor that a retaliation race fight involving guns would happen on the campus on Friday, March 7. The school took precautionary measures. The rumors proved to be false and no guns were found.

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Meeks is the only student resource officer currently policing schools in LaFayette.

“I cover every elementary school in the city, along with the Sixth Grade Academy, the middle school and (LaFayette High School). I physically can’t be at all these locations at once. There are times when I have to call my supervisor for help.”

Meeks said there are times when student infractions are so great he has had to rely on fellow officers from the LaFayette Police Department.

“Of course, you try to handle everything in-house as much as possible, but if there is a situation I feel is escalating or to the point to where I need outside help, I don’t hesitate to call,” Meeks said.

According to Elaine Womack, Walker schools public information and community relations director, this fear of escalation is what promoted Ridgeland officials to call in help last Friday from the Sheriff’s Department.

“The SRO (student resource officer) called in Walker County to check out the place and talked to the children,” Womack said.

Meeks said of similar situations he has dealt with, “Over the course of this job, there are things that have put me in difficult situations.”

However, he said that nothing had ever escalated at LaFayette High that has ever resulted in the lockdown of the school as occurred at Ridgeland.

Meeks and Chambers both acknowledged that with recent trends across the nation that ever more precautions will be necessary to safeguard the children of the county.

“This is a sad reality of the times in which we live,” Chambers said.