Teachers stood outside the doors of Winder-Barrow High on Tuesday morning, hugging students as they entered the school for the first time since authorities said a 14-year-old student shot and killed four people at neighboring Apalachee High School last week.
Barrow County School System leaders canceled classes in the northeast Georgia school district last Thursday, Friday and Monday. All schools except Apalachee High reopened Tuesday.
Ken Chapman’s granddaughter Hailey Cook, a sophomore at Winder-Barrow High, was one of the many students to return to school Tuesday. While Hailey was able to go to school like she ordinarily would, he acknowledged this is not the case for everyone.
”The ones that lost folks, there’s no normal for them ever again,” Chapman said.
Students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and two adults, assistant football coach Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and math teacher Cristina Irimie, 54, were all killed on Wednesday. Nine other people were injured.
Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student at Apalachee High, and his father, Colin Gray, 54, both face charges in connection to the shooting.
School system administrators asked students not ready to return to school to contact the school’s counselor or the support services available in the area for help and guidance.
Kathleen Charbonnea has four children. Two have graduated. One attends Apalachee and the other goes to Haymon-Morris Middle School, just down the road. She had no qualms about sending the youngest back to class Tuesday.
”There’s never going to be a safer place than these schools for my children to go,” she said. “One hundred percent. I don’t question it at all.”
Charbonnea also praised the school and emergency teams’ responses to the shooting.
”I’m the daughter of a police officer from New York City, and I can tell you, I would put … our first responders up against anybody in the country. They’re amazing, and without them, it would have been a lot worse.”
Chapman agreed. While his granddaughter Hailey was not scared about going back to school, the two did discuss what added security features might look like going forward around the school.
“(Sheriff Jud Smith) has the necessary resources to protect the schools, and I feel perfectly safe, although you never can totally prevent those kinds of incidents,” Chapman.
School system leaders said they would have more security staff from the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia State Patrol at its schools Tuesday and would limit access from visitors. They also planned to have more mental health and counseling resources. Barrow has about 15,000 students.
The tragedy put the quiet Barrow County on the national radar. The presence of reporters and cameras in the area has been re-traumatizing for students, Charbonnea and other parents have said.
Several police cars parked outside of Winder-Barrow High remained after car pool had long ended.
Winder-Barrow’s football team was scheduled to play Apalachee High on Friday. The game was canceled. The rival school is now united in its support of Apalachee.
The marquee outside of the school read “We stand with Chee” as students returned to class. White ribbons with a “A” in the center glittered in the morning sun from where they hung attached to school buses. Paint dotted classroom windows with notes of encouragement, including “Love will prevail” and “You are safe.”
Chapman and Hailey also talked about the victims of the shooting. Despite not knowing the individuals personally, Chapman’s family still experienced grief in the wake of Wednesday’s events.
”I think talking about that and expressing your compassion and that you’re grieving for those families and praying for them is therapeutic in itself, and honors the victims,” Chapman said.
Staff writer Cassidy Alexander contributed to this report.
