Queen Creek school puts principal on leave after student brings gun to class

QUEEN CREEK, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - A Queen Creek school has put its principal on administrative leave after a 4th-grade student brought a gun to school on Thursday.

Legacy Traditional School officials released the following statement regarding Principal Megan Alvarado:

“The wellbeing of Legacy students, teachers and staff members is our highest priority, and that includes supporting a safe, inclusive and welcoming learning environment. We are investigating the circumstances around Thursday’s discovery of an armed student on campus, and this inquiry includes making certain the administration at all times followed Legacy security protocols. Principal Alvarado has been placed on administrative leave pending completion of this review. We look forward to continued conversations with our students, parents, teachers and staff members to ensure our school lives up to Legacy’s high standards.”

On Wednesday, a student told their parents that they had seen something suspicious at school. The child’s parents informed school officials and the next morning, a fourth-grade student was found to have brought a gun into the school in their backpack. According to Queen Creek police, staff called the police and moved the child away from other students. Legacy Traditional School says that the student never pulled the gun out of their backpack.

On Thursday, school officials said that they were cooperating with police during their investigation. Cheyenne Jimenez, a Legacy Traditional parent who has a fourth grader at the school, said, “They should have some responsibility for their child taking a firearm out of their home...For right now, I’m okay. I guess we’ll see what kind of reprimand they’re going to have for that student.”

Another parent Paul Novak, a School Safety Consultant and former Tempe director of School Safety, said, “I’ve never seen where a principal was placed on administrative leave because a weapon was located on campus.”

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