Parents Express Safety Concerns To Baltimore County Public School Board
PERRY HALL, Md. (WJZ) -- Parents in Baltimore County want to know what school leaders are doing to keep students safe from other students.
The concerns come a week after cell phone video captured a teen carrying an air soft rifle outside of Perry Hall High School.
RELATED: Police ID Man In Perry Hall Fight Video In Which He Appears To Have Gun
The video also showed students fighting on school property in the middle of the day.
Many were concerned because it wasn't known at the time if 18-year-old Darren Keith Bennett had a dangerous firearm. Investigators later learned the weapon was an air soft rifle.
"It's not just Perry Hall, but it sure starts with what's going on there right now," one woman said at the school board meeting Tuesday night. "He's been threatened with electrocution. He's been threatened with a baseball bat. He's been punched in the face, while the school administration tells me he has rights too."
"What I saw on videotape the other day was a beating. That was not a fight. That was a beating, like you see in prison," said one concerned parent.
Parents shared with the board stories of violence and bullying not captured on camera. They say it happens far too often inside Baltimore County Public Schools.
[REPORTER: What do you say to the parents who raise concerns about the safety of their children in schools?]
"Every incidence of bullying and harassment--every fight--is taken very seriously," said George Roberts, of Baltimore County Public Schools.
Schools administrators say they immediately investigate any cases of bullying and recently established an office that focuses on teaching kids how to handle conflict without violence.
Bennett is facing criminal charges.
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