Rock Hill schools tops in region by far for weapons cases. District explains why
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Rock Hill reports highest regional weapon incidents, due to proactive detection.
- District uses screenings, K-9 searches, and security tech to boost school safety.
- Violent outcomes rare; database shows only three school shootings in the region since 1989.
South Carolina report cards show the Rock Hill School District faces significantly more cases of weapons in schools than any other district in the three-county Rock Hill region.
In fact, in a seven-year span, the district accounted for 53.2% of all reports of weapons even though it is the second-largest system in the region, a Herald review of state data found. The Rock Hill district accounts for 22.8% of the nearly 72,000 public school students in York, Lancaster or Chester counties.
The report card statistics are misleading, the Rock Hill school district insisted.
What’s listed as possession of a firearm or explosive can also include pocketknives, tasers or pepper spray, district Executive Director of Safety and Emergency Management Andrew Jones said. As for the higher incident count, Jones points to random safety screenings, hall sweeps and K-9 searches in Rock Hill that not all districts perform.
“Hundreds of classrooms are screened each year, which means we are more likely to detect and report items,” Jones said. “Our proactive safety measures show up in the data but they also help keep our schools safer.”
So, are those report card numbers cause for alarm, an indicator that school safety measures are working or something in between?
Required weekly, random safety screenings at middle and high schools show the priority Rock Hill places on safety, said Superintendent Deborah Elder, who began her role with the district this summer.
“We are very diligent, and I’m impressed with our proactive approach as I continue to learn our systems,” Elder said.
Weapons in Rock Hill region schools
A 1998 state law requires annual report cards for all public school districts, elementary, middle and high schools in South Carolina.
The South Carolina Department of Education publishes report cards by Nov. 15 of each year, including a student safety metric for “incidents of possession of firearm or explosive” in schools. The report cards don’t list details like how many incidents involve guns or whether the guns found at school were loaded.
A Herald review of data from the 2017-18 through 2023-24 school years found 688 incidents of weapons possession across South Carolina. Rock Hill had 33 incidents.
Chester County schools were next with 10 incidents. The Chester County district is among the other five public districts in York, Lancaster or Chester counties, which combined for 28 incidents. Area charter schools added one more incident.
Fort Mill, the largest district in the region with 18,396 students on the most recent report card, had two reported incidents. Rock Hill is the second-largest district at 16,316 students. Lancaster County, with 15,298 students, had nine incidents.
The Clover, York and Chester County school districts have a combined 18,737 students, as of the most recent report card. They combined for 17 weapons incidents.
Legion Collegiate, Riverwalk and York Preparatory academies combined for one weapon case, during the 2022-‘23 school year at Riverwalk. That incident didn’t involve a firearm, according to the report cards. Those three public charter schools are part of statewide districts unaffiliated with the six traditional school districts in the region.
Rock Hill reported at least one incident involved a firearm at school for each of the seven school years, according to the report cards. For the five years that the report cards listed a number for firearm incidents, Rock Hill reported one incident each year.
A student was arrested in September 2018 after bringing a loaded gun to Northwestern High School, The Herald reported. In September 2022, guns were found at three Rock Hill schools on consecutive days, according to archives.
District safety measures found those guns that were not fired at the schools, The Herald reported at the time.
Rock Hill protocols lead to more weapons reports, district says
School safety involves extensive work in Rock Hill. The district partners with the Rock Hill Police Department and York County Sheriff’s Office for annual safety training and response protocol reviews.
Law enforcement also conducts K-9 searches in schools. Safety officers are present for on-campus events, where attendees pass through weapons-screening devices. And all schools have single-point entry to improve security.
“We continue to invest in safety across all of our facilities,” Jones said. “We’ve installed impact-resistant film throughout the district, we’re enhancing our security camera systems and we’ve created a dedicated Safety and Response Team to assist with screenings, drills and incident response.”
Area school districts vary in how often they screen for weapons. Districts that screen the most show the most weapons incidents, report card data show.
The Chester County School District, for instance, is most similar to Rock Hill in conducting daily weapons and contraband searches. On a per student rate, the much smaller Chester County district sees about the same number of weapons that Rock Hill does.
On the opposite end are districts like Fort Mill that don’t use pass-through detectors, or only use them for events on campus. Fort Mill only reported two weapons incidents in the report card data.
“We are leading the way in taking extra steps to keep weapons out of our schools,” Jones said.
And Superintendent Elder noted that Rock Hill schools have been asked to present details about district safety measures for schools statewide.
Safety measures in Fort Mill, Clover, other area schools
The Herald also reached out to other area districts to find out what safety measures they take. Here are the details:
- The Fort Mill district doesn’t discuss specific safety measures at schools per school board policy, said spokesman Joe Burke. Fort Mill does not use pass-through metal detectors, he said. Report cards show one incident of weapons possession each in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
- Lancaster County schools installed new Evolv weapons detection systems in middle and high schools Friday. Sept. 12 The AI-powered pass through detectors upgrades metal detectors that have been in place for several years, and are used daily.
- The Clover School District started using metal detectors and clear bag policies for events in 2019. Last fall, the district started using pass-through OPENGATE weapons detection systems at its middle schools and high school. Random screenings and drug dogs are used for large events, said district spokeswoman Stephanie Knott. More OPENGATE detectors should arrive this fall, with the goal of having one for each school campus in the next few years. Clover has an area-low one weapons incident reported in the report card data from 2017-‘18 to 2023-‘24.
- York schools has the same OPENGATE system used by Carowinds and some universities, said district spokeswoman Janet Parker. York Comprehensive High, York Middle and York One Academy have metal detectors and handheld wands. Those units are used for large events at schools, and elementary schools have them available upon request. York has six incidents in the report card data, and never more than two in a year.
- The Chester County School District screens students daily using weapons detection systems in high schools. The district runs regular contraband searches with K-9 units that also search for vapes or drugs, said district spokesman Chris Christoff. Resource officers at every campus in the district also assist with safety measures. Chester County had 10 incidents in the report card data.
Violence in Rock Hill region schools
Weapons have been found in schools across the Rock Hill region for decades, a review of Herald archives found. Violence stemming from those weapons has been rare. Gun violence, in particular, has been even more infrequent.
The K-12 School Shooting Database, an online open-source research project that began as a school project in 2018, tracks school shootings nationwide.
The database lists three incidents in the Rock Hill region since 1966, and one of them didn’t happen at a school. It involved someone shooting a BB gun at a school bus outside of Rock Hill in 2020.
Other shooting incidents happened in 1991 in York County and in 1989 in Chester County, Herald records confirm. Each incident involved one person shot. One student was killed while another was left in critical but stable condition, according to Herald reports at the time.
The school shooting database lists one shooting incident this summer just outside the region, at Palisades High School in Steele Creek. A bullet struck a school window, according to the database. A week later, two people were arrested for bringing guns to that school on the first day of class, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has 22 shootings all-time involving schools or school buses, according to the school shooting database.
The national database counts any incident at a school where a gun is fired or brandished with intent to harm, or when a bullet hits any part of school property, according to the K-12 database.
From 2000 to 2017, there were 654 incidents nationwide, according to the database. That’s about 36 incidents per year. The next three years brought 359 incidents, or about 120 incidents per year. They’ve grown even higher since schools came back from the COVID pandemic.
From 2021 to 2024, there were 1,252 gun incidents involving schools, according to the database. That’s 313 incidents per year.
Addressing safety concerns in Rock Hill schools
School safety and emergency preparation is an ongoing process, Jones said.
Rock Hill schools have an online tip line on the district’s main webpage where anyone can leave a message, including anonymously. Schools promote a “See Something, Say Something” approach, Jones said.
“Our goal is to continually strengthen our safety measures and ensure that every student, staff member and visitor can feel secure in our schools,” he said.
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