BEATRICE – Beatrice Public School officials checking out a report that a student may have a weapon, discovered a fake handgun. Superintendent Jason Alexander says parents were notified at 1:20 p.m., Thursday that school officials and the Beatrice Middle School Resource Officer were made aware of a potential weapon located in a student’s backpack.


"In this particular situation, the students that were shown the fake weapon, actually came directly to the administration and reported it."


The district also has an anonymous reporting system called P-three campus, but that did not come into play, this time. A couple of students had been shown the fake, plastic gun…which Alexander said appeared authentic.


"Extremely realistic...to the point where if I would have seen it from even a distance of more than two feet, I would have assumed it was real...which is one of the main things, lessons that we're trying to get across to kids these days is that the outcome of those circumstances, had our school resource officer seen it...could have meant a lot different result in what actually happened."


Administrators responding discovered the fake handgun in the student’s locker. School officials determined there was no imminent threat to the school, its’ students or staff members. Alexander says weapon look-alikes violate the Beatrice Middle School Code of Conduct as well as state law. He said administrators have taken steps associated with the situation. Alexander would not comment on the age, gender or grade level of the student.


"There is disciplinary action...but in accordance with the federal education rights privacy act, I can't state what that all involves."  The superintendent said the safety and well-being of students and staff will continue to be the district’s highest priority….in what has become a different world, today.


"It's schools, it's churches, it's grocery stores, it's everywhere....and, it makes you think at some point, we've got to take serious considerations to making sure our soft targets are not soft targets anymore...whatever that means. To be quite honest, in this situation, without the help of our school resource officer, we might have been in a different situation. Our school resource officers are so important to us in regard to just deterring the ideas some people may have about entering our schools with weapons. It stops so much of that....that it's a comfort level that we appreciate greatly, knowing we have it at our schools."


Classes proceeded as normal following the discovery. Alexander says the process couldn’t have worked any better….with the students reporting the discovery immediately…and the matter being handled without disruption.