BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGANEWS
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated with comments from Autauga County Supt. Tim Tidmore, regarding disciplinary action of two students who brought guns to school in that county recently.
There has been a recent string of incidents involving students bringing guns to schools in our area, including two in Autauga County in the past weeks. Most recently one at Redland Middle School in Elmore County was reported Thursday.
In the most recent case, Elmore County Supt. Richard Dennis and the Board of Education took swift action, holding an expulsion hearing this morning. The 14-year-old has been expelled from Redland Middle School. Dennis issued a brief press release today regarding the expulsion.
The expulsion is for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year and for the 2023-2024 school year. A petition was filed by the school and will be pursued.
We reached out to Autauga County Supt. Tim Tidmore for an update on any disciplinary action handed out to students with guns on campus. We received this reply – “They have been disciplined according to the code of conduct and board policy.” He said that policy can be found on the board’s website, and added that explusion is the ultimate discipline.
According to Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin, the student at Redland Elementary was found with an unloaded .44 Magnum. However, there were six bullets found near the gun, he said.
Fortunately, in all three cases, there were no injuries related to the weapon on the campuses.
Meanwhile, Autauga County School Board recently passed a clear backpack rule for students, and there has been discussion about the purchase of metal detectors for schools in Autauga County. There have also been recent discussions of purchasing weapons detectors for Autauga County, and we will have more on that in a future article.
