Hugs and signs of support greet Apalachee HS students as they resume classes

WINDER — As students arrived at Apalachee High School on Tuesday morning, the scene looked like a typical school day. Cars and buses circled through the carpool drop-off. Students carrying backpacks made their way from the parking lot to class.

There were some differences, though. Students stopped to hug each other before going inside. A sign with big blue letters reading “Love will prevail” was perched near the entrance. U.S. and Georgia flags were at half-mast. The flagpole was surrounded by flowers, balloons and wreaths left in memory of the four people shot and killed here less than three weeks ago.

It also was hard to miss the flashing blue lights of the Georgia State Patrol cars stationed in front of the school.

Tuesday was the first day of classes at the Barrow County school since the shooting. School administrators held an open house Monday to prepare students for the return, but the resumption of classes was difficult for many students.

Credit: John Spink

There have been calls for increased security since officials say a 14-year-old student opened fire in the hallway Sept. 4.

“Understand that there are safety measures in place, and just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there, contrary to what you hear and see on the social media world,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at a news briefing Monday.

In addition to more officers on campus, the school district has said it will have more counselors and therapy dogs available to Apalachee students.

Apalachee freshman Ashteacia Infate said she was a little surprised there weren’t more visible security measures when students returned. ”It took a long time to get back to school,” she said. “I thought they were going to do some changes, you know what I mean? I thought they were going to … put (in) metal detectors or check bookbags.”

Infate said she didn’t see either.

She also said it was “sad” and “weird” to be at school without her friend, Christian Angulo , who was killed in the shooting.

”He was really calming,” she said. “He was really nice. He never (was) mean to people. He loved his family a lot, and he was really funny.”

Classes will be only half-days for the next few weeks to help students and teachers reacclimate themselves.

The hall where the shooting took place will be closed for the rest of the school year, so social studies classes will be held in another building a few miles away, the school district website says. Some in the Apalachee community have raised concerns that moving social studies classes separates students from their classmates.

Apalachee parent Camille Barbarito was reluctant to send her daughter back to school.

”(Doctors) put her on anxiety medicine, and I’m sure it’s bad for a lot of (students),” she said after dismissal Tuesday. “I just really don’t think it’s time for them to go back to school yet.”

She said what happened Sept. 4 still is fresh in the minds of many students.

”I just think it’s too much for them,” she said. “I do. It’s too much. They’re not grown yet, you know? They’re still children.”

Layla Renee Contreras is an Apalachee alum and started the organization “Change for Chee,” which garnered about 1,200 signatures on an online petition urging the district to go further by requiring safety measures like clear backpacks.

“We know they’re working hard,” she said in response to Smith’s comments. “We know that they care. We’re not saying that they don’t. We’re saying that we just want to have that communication and have that public input.”

Contreras’ sister, Sasha, is a junior at Apalachee and her mom is a substitute teacher at the school. Contreras participated in a walkout in 2018 to protest gun violence in schools after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida. Now, a memorial for the four killed at Apalachee fills the space where they stood.

“It’s sad because you would never think it happened in your own community, in your home, until it does, " she said.

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