NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Many people attended the Newport News Public School Board meeting on Tuesday evening after a 17-year-old was shot and killed near Heritage High School Tuesday morning.
That shooting came only a week after a 15-year-old was shot and killed at his Menchville High School bus stop.
During the meeting, parent Crystal Beauvais shared the panic she felt after her daughter texted her about a nearby shooting.
“At 8:24 a.m., my daughter texted me from her middle school English room because her sister wasn’t answering her text messages after she was informed by the teacher that there was a shooting near her sister’s school and that the school was locked,” said Beauvais.
Beauvais’ daughter attends Heritage High School, just around the corner from where a 17-year-old teenager was shot and killed. Beauvais said her husband had a difficult time trying to get in touch with the school and learn the status of the shooting near the school.
“My husband reached out to the schools, and he said he tried for 15 minutes unsuccessfully to get anyone on the phone, then reached NNPD’s non-emergency line and confirmed there had been a shooting outside of the school but not on school grounds,” said Beauvais.
Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew and Mayor Philip Jones attended the school board meeting. They did not say anything at the meeting. However, school board members expressed their grief about the fatal shooting.
Board chairman, Lisa Surles-Law, said the school division and parents must work together to keep students safe.
“We need to hold ourselves accountable [for] managing our homes so that we’re sending the best that we can send to the schools so that we can do our best work,” said Surles-Law.
