Middle school students disciplined after talk of gun in class

Three Eureka Springs Middle School students were disciplined by the district after one said they had a gun in class Wednesday morning, March 11.

According to superintendent Bryan Pruitt, a student brought a “metal rubber band gun,” to campus Wednesday morning.

“There’s three of them, a total of three kids,” Pruitt said. “One brought it, one was trading it around, and then the other one ended up with it and said: ‘I’ve got a gun here with me.’”

Each of the students received the same discipline based on district policy, Pruitt said.

“We followed district policy on that and the discipline was, we did follow district policies and the punishment was assessed accordingly.”

According to a post on the district’s Facebook page Wednesday morning, a teacher reported that a student made a statement about having a gun.

“Staff immediately followed safety procedures and contacted ESPD,” the post reads. “No weapon was found and there is no threat to students or staff; the student had a small metal rubber band toy.

“The situation is being addressed and the student will be dealt with accordingly. We are sharing this for transparency in case you hear about it from your child. Student safety remains our top priority.”

Pruitt said police responded and looked into the situation, but did not take any action on the incident, which was taken seriously by district staff. 

“You take it as a threat because it is, you know, you do have something that’s perceived as a gun when you’ve made a threat,” the superintendent said. “… In this day and age you can’t joke around with those things or play around, and I think maybe we all need to do a better job with our students, explaining to them when you bring something that’s perceived as a weapon, it’s going to be treated as a weapon and a threat.”

Pruitt said the rubber band gun was “more sophisticated” than rubber band guns of past decades.

“They look like a gun,” he said, adding the device shoots rubber bands about the size of ones “used on braces.”

“I’m sure it would put an eye out,” Pruitt said of what might happen if someone was hit by one of the bands.

It’s important for students and parents to understand the seriousness of the situation, despite the item being a toy, Pruitt said.

“In this day and age there’s not much room for grace,” he said. “You’ve got to follow the policy…

“Safety is the top priority and we take it very seriously.”

BOARD MEETING

The district school board approved a series of measures during its monthly meeting on Monday, March 9, including its annual federal assurances, where it indicates how federal funds will be spent.

“We spend those according to those categorical funds,” Pruitt said.

The board also approved the final payment on the new cafeteria building used for elementary and middle school students, completing a nearly three-year-long project.

“We had a $69,000 change order, and that was on a retaining wall on a main structure wall and glazing, and then the final payment,” Pruitt said. “The final payment is $187,942.”

The board also approved the 2026-2027 district calendar, a nontraditional schedule where students will be at school 15 minutes early each day to help build up potential snow days. If those days aren’t needed, then school times can be altered toward the end of the year.

“You know we’ve missed four day this year [due to weather], so we’ve got a couple of days left, and if we don’t miss any more days, then I may do like an AMI day right before school’s out and we’ll do something like that because we have that time already, but you have to go 1,016 hours of school each year.”

Monday’s meeting was the final one for board member Al Larson. Larson, who has served on the board since 2011, did not seek re-election this year.