'We are sitting ducks': Student pleads with CMS leaders for safer schools

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The mother of slain Butler High School student Bobby McKeithen, shot by a fellow classmate on campus Monday morning, is joining with other local parents and students in pushing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials to add more security measures.

Tuesday night's school board meeting was the first held since Monday's shooting at Butler High School, where police said Jatwan Cuffie shot and killed Bobby McKeithen.

"A child shouldn't have been able to walk in with a gun and be able to shoot my baby," said McKeithen's mom, Ashley Mewborn.

Although there is no existing policy, Channel 9's Elsa Gillis learned that wanding students with metal detectors, searching backpacks and requiring clear backpacks may be considered by the school district.

CMS discussed the tragic incident at Tuesday night’s board meeting.

“I'm here today to beg CMS for my life, and the lives of my fellow students,” Ardrey Kell High School junior Luke Drago told commissioners. "We are sitting ducks. In other words, we are target practice. My school is not a shooting range. Do something to fix it."

Superintendent Clayton Wilcox suggested no security measure is off limits, including metal detectors.

“We are sitting ducks.”

An Ardrey Kell student just addressed the #CMS board, demanding more be done to protect students following the shooting at Butler High.

He specifically asked for metal detectors. pic.twitter.com/MAmXyvxTTh
— DaShawn Brown (@DaShawnWSOC9) October 30, 2018

“I think it’s something we have to revisit,” Wilcox said at the meeting. “I think we would be negligent if we didn't at least talk about it and perhaps even experiment with it a little bit.”

Wilcox previously opposed the idea, citing a negative impact on an otherwise welcoming atmosphere of a school campus.

Board member Sean Strain discussed the tragedy with the community.

“We have got to ask our kids how they are finding their way to these tragic decisions that are impacting lives the way they are,” Strains said.

"It's sad that it has to come to that, but look where we are now, a kid died yesterday in school," said parent Erike Johnson earlier Tuesday.

A CMS official said before the board meeting that metal detectors and wanding students have been considered by the district and community for a while. Any decision would need careful input from across the community.

"They need to make sure these kids are safe. Do whatever you have to do," Mewborn said.

When asked where the money for the new security measures would come from, officials said it would most likely be added to their regular budget, not through bonds.

Parents said they are very supportive of more security options.

"A lot of those parents were out there very worried about their kids. I would've been too if it was one of my kids, so I think they need to increase it and really buckle down," Johnson said.

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