25-04-2025
Fairfax County school community shares safety concerns after West Potomac High School stabbing
FALLS CHURCH, Va. () — Parents and students at a Fairfax County school board meeting Thursday said more needs to be done to keep schools safe after a teen was stabbed by another classmate at West Potomac High School in Belle Haven.
Thursday was the first day , in place less than 24 hours after on Wednesday.
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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) parent Vanessa Hall said the news of the stabbing left her shaken up, and it compelled her to testify about school safety and the school system's budget on Thursday.
'I'm a parent who's actually had that call that something's happened to their child. I've had the worst call and had to suffer through that,' Hall said. 'It was dramatically horrible, terrible for all the parents standing outside.'
Hall believes students are smart enough to circumvent those weapons detectors, and that a lot of the violence between students at school happens outside the building's walls.
She and a student testified before the board Thursday in favor of finding new safety measures following the addition of new Open Gate weapons detectors at West Potomac and several other schools in Fairfax County.
'Students are panicking, afraid of being treated like a suspect for the crime of potentially being a victim of school violence. My peers and I don't believe the Open Gate system is capable of keeping our schools safe,' student Alexander Mather said.
Fairfax County school board members call for increase in safety measures after stabbing at high school
Pamela Revels is the president of the National Association of School Resource Officers. She said those systems can help, but they aren't a solution on their own.
'When you do add things like a weapons detection system, it is an enhanced feature, but you can't just rely on that alone to stop weapons,' Revels said.
The board's student representative, Megan Sawant, said those detectors are an important step toward safety.
'This is the reality that we live in, and we always need to be prepared,' Sawant said.
It's not clear how long the new weapons detectors are going to be in place at West Potomac High School. The program is still in its pilot phase.
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