JONES COUNTY, Ga. — Jones County High School has begun taking new measures to keep students safe at school after a shot was fired in December at the Jones County High basketball game.
Valerie Ford has a daughter in 10th grade at Jones County High.
"I don't want that call. I don't want to be that mother on the national news that has to say, 'Oh, what if...?' That's scary," said Ford.
After the December 11th shooting scare during a basketball game at the school gym, she views this new protocol as a wake-up call.
"At this point, I think that we can say that it's a necessary evil and that we probably need to be doing it," said Ford.
In an email to families and a Facebook post, Principal Lance Rackley said administrators will begin random screenings of classrooms with handheld metal detectors. Christina Mosteller has a 9th grade daughter at the school.
"Isabell doesn't feel safe a lot of the time when she goes. She's scared, she doesn't know what is going to happen, and I want her to feel safe when she's at school trying to get an education," said Mosteller.
According to Rackley, it's an effort to keep weapons and other prohibited items like electronic vaping devices, pepper spray, and drugs out of the school.
"To know that my child is going to be safe, because you don't know all of the factors, you don't know that it's the unknown," said Ford.
"It's hard -- they got to understand that these are the times that we live in, and we must do something and we got to do it now, or Jones County is going to be up there with the other schools that have had gun situations," said Mosteller.
We reached out to Principal Lance Rackley about the safety measures, but he declined comment.
A Baldwin County teen is charged with firing the shot at last month's basketball game. However, investigators found at least two other guns on school grounds during that game.