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First Screenings Conducted At 2 CMS Schools, No Weapons Found

Jessa O'Connor / WFAE
CMS Superintendent Clayton Wilcox

No weapons were found Tuesday in the first random weapons screening at Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools.

Four classes were searched at both Rocky River and Garinger high schools Tuesday morning. Officials say it took about eight minutes to search each class.

“I want to thank the kids themselves,” Superintendent Clayton Wilcox said, “This is, in many ways, kind of a gross indignity that we’re subjecting them to, but the young people understood and the young people cooperated.”

Related Content: CMS Launches Safety Screenings To Check High Schoolers For Weapons

School resource officers and staff conducted the searches, which CMS decided to do after the deadly shooting of a Butler High School student in October.

Screeners also did not find any illegal drugs or prohibited materials. Officials say two students turned in Advil to teachers during the screenings.

All 19 high schools in CMS will be subjected to random weapons screening. This first round of screening involves eight schools. CMS officials have not said when and where the next screenings will take place, only that they will be conducted as often as possible.

Some of the future screenings may focus on a certain school building or be done school-wide. The screenings will be done one of three ways: either by wanding, portable metal detectors or bag searches.

CMS says eight guns have been confiscated from students on campuses this schools year. Nineteen guns were found at CMS schools the previous year.