By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

RANDOM bag searches may be introduced in primary schools throughout New Providence to bolster security, Acting Director of Education Dominique McCartney-Russell said yesterday.

Her comment came after police reported on Friday that a nine-year-old student was found with ammunition at a school.

Mrs McCartney-Russell confirmed that the child is a Stephen Dillet Primary School student. She said officials are still trying to determine how the child got the ammunition.

“The child actually said that they found the bullets and they would have given it to one of the staff members and when (the staff member) looked, it was more than one,” she told The Tribune yesterday. “It was I think three or four (bullets) the child said that they found, and, of course, they carried him to the office.”

Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) president Belinda Wilson said she is disturbed by the report.  

“I’ve been in communication with the Acting Director of Education as to what measures will be put in place at the primary school level. Bag searches, metal detectors, random checks, and the police school resource officers — all of these have to be considered at all schools,” she said in a voice note yesterday.

Although she ruled out introducing metal detectors in primary schools, Mrs McCartney-Russell said random bag checks could be on their way — a first for primary schools.  

“We would have already discussed the need for random bag checks at the primary school level. That’s not something that we normally do at the primary school level, but we have determined that we will need to do that for not just that reason that was discovered on Friday but that’s one of the initiatives,” she said.

“In our high schools, our security officers assist us with bag searches, and they do those bag searches every day. In the primary schools, we will ask our team members to assist. It won’t be every day, but we will seek to do it in all of our schools. We want to ensure that, you know, all of our children are coming to school, and they are in an environment that is conducive for learning. We don’t want to have to search bags but it has gotten to this point where we really need to ensure that our children are making the best decisions and at the primary school level they’re being exposed to so many things.”

Mrs McCartney-Russell said officials will connect with parents and teachers before moving ahead with random bag checks.

She added officials will also reintroduce seminars to talk to children about social media, bullying, fighting and other issues.

Chief Superintendent of Police Anton Rahming said yesterday police are still investigating the Stephen Dillet Primary School incident.