Gresham High teachers and students raise safety concerns

GRESHAM, Ore. – Students and teachers at Gresham High School shared growing safety concerns with the Gresham-Barlow School Board on Wednesday. Their frustration follows a Sept. 20 incident. Gresham police arrested a 17-year-old student for allegedly bringing a gun to school.

Social studies teacher Mark Adamski finds it difficult to relive what happened that day. He said the arrested student had recently been hostile during his class and that day Adamski stole the teen's cellphone.

“Fortunately, they complied with that request because, unbeknownst to me, the student had a loaded 9-millimeter handgun in his waistband with a bullet in the chamber,” Adamski said. “Ten minutes later, a campus guard appeared at my door and asked the armed student to leave with them. The student walked slowly around the entire room and had time to do whatever he wanted.”

School officials said they learned of the threat when a community member brought it to their attention, saying the teen threatened them with a gun outside the school before entering the school.

“(School officials) had a known student walk through my classroom full of students with a gun, and the police had not even been called or consulted,” Adamski said.

With so much at stake, many who testified Wednesday said they believed school officials should have put the campus on hold or locked down in response to the threat.

In a statement, the Gresham-Barlow School District praised building management and campus security officials' handling of the incident.

“We also consider input from students, staff and families. We are always looking for ways to improve our processes and procedures,” the statement said.

Adamski said he would like to do more.

“I would like to see a full investigation just to uncover missteps,” Adamski said. “We were told (by school administrators): 'We did everything right,' and as an educator I'm often told to think about what we did.”

Students and teachers addressed the school board last spring expressing their lack of confidence in Gresham's superintendent and district officials. The move came after months of drug use and frequent, violent fights between students armed with guns. They were frustrated to face the school board again with similar concerns.

“Your actions, which we as students continually ignore, have resulted in us no longer trusting any of you or the leadership of Gresham High School,” said Elizabeth Westbrook, a senior and co-founder of the Gresham High School Student Union (GHSSU). .

Several students are planning to stage a strike on Thursday at noon during school hours. The event is organized by GHSSU with the aim of raising awareness of ongoing safety concerns at the school.