RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Concerns and questions about school safety measures continue after a third-party report was released on Jan. 17 in an investigation into last year’s Huguenot High School graduation mass shooting.
Richmond City School board members Dr. Shonda Harris-Muhammed and Jonathan Young spoke with 8News ahead of the first board meeting on Monday, Jan. 22, following the release of the third-party audit of the Huguenot graduation shooting that killed 18-year-old student Shawn Jackson in June 2023.
Both board members called for accountability and transparency to be brought forth at the table Monday night, along with honest conversations about ways to move forward as a school division.
“We got a sit down and unveil our mistakes because that’s how you begin to heal,” said Dr. Harris-Muhammed about addressing the issues about Richmond City Public Schools reported in the third-party audit.
The third-party review, conducted by law firm Sands Anderson, highlighted multiple missteps by the school district such as:
- Allowing Shawn Jackson to participate in Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony despite him not being authorized to attend due to his status as a home bound student.
- The lack of authoritative and precautionary action taken by former school principal Robert Gilstrap after the safety and security risks against Jackson had been revealed.
- Security deficiencies on the day of Huguenot High School’s graduation as multiple students and staff were reported to be able to enter into the venue without security screening.
A failure to conduct a proper threat assessment regarding the behaviors of students at the school was also revealed in the report. Harris-Muhammed said threat assessments rely on communication so that everyone can understand the layers of a crisis situation when it is presented.
Harris-Muhammed also said the lack of knowledge between staff members due to information not being provided to the correct personnel caused the shortcomings both prior to and the day of the shooting.
“The training is not filtering down to our building-level people,” Harris-Muhammed said. “Everybody needs to know what’s happening and everybody didn’t know that and so, people have to own that.”
According to the report, Huguenot school counselor Monique Harris had brought concerns about Jackson’s safety to other key administrators such as Gilstrap and the former assistant principal, Kevin Olds.
The review team for the report found that despite key administrators having knowledge of risks posed against Jackson, they “did not identify any vetting took place related to any of the known safety and security issues related to the Student.”
The report also stated members of the school district’s security team involving care and safety associates, or CSA’s, did not receive a list of expected graduates or attendees.
“If the information is not given to [CSA’s], then what are the expectations of them?” Harris-Muhammed said. “Had they received it, they would have moved accordingly, but they didn’t have it. So, that goes back to ‘why you didn’t have it?”
On Wednesday, Jan. 17, Richmond City School Board released a statement about changes they have made following the report’s release, which included “investing millions in updated security infrastructure, including cameras, access control systems, metal detectors, intercoms, digital school maps for first responders, and more.”
Young said the new initiatives by the school board have been well-received, but “there is an acknowledgement that we have consistently in Richmond Public Schools put our students and our teachers in harm’s way.”
Young said the Richmond school board has a lot of work to do and it is time for officials to get serious about keeping students and teachers safe.
“If the priority isn’t the safety and welfare of our students, then boy, oh boy, the school board of the City of Richmond really will miss the mark,” Young said.
8News reached out to both Richmond City School Board Superintendent Kamras and Board Chair Rizzi and are awaiting for a response. The school board’s full statement in response to the third-party report can be found on Richmond Public School’s website.
