It was two weeks ago the threatening words of 19-year-old Derek Beaver of Bakersfield led to his arrest in the small community of Bakersfield.
Court documents note Beaver, with the intent to frighten ten or more people, knowingly communicated to at least three classmates a threat to cause a school shooting, by telling the classmates that defendant had access to semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms and that he intended to use the firearms to shoot up the school because no one there liked him.
Beaver has allegedly stated he has an M16 rifle, an AK47 and numerous other weapons.
Bakersfield’s Superintendent Dr. Amy Britt says weapons were never on the school campus and the school was never on lock-down. Dr. Britt says like all schools, whether rural or urban, it’s imperative plans, protocols and procedures are in place before there is an incident. Those plans include safety drills for fire and tornado, as well as intruders. Through the drills, she says personnel receive valuable feedback from the students.
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While court documents reference Beaver having made allegations that no one at the school liked him, Britt says personnel had not received any reports of bullying. However, the review process over the past two weeks has included taking another look at bullying procedures.
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Britt notes the location of the Bakersfield school is particularly challenging. She says while post certified law enforcement, often employed by the sheriff’s office, can be utilized by Missouri schools, they are not available for the five schools in Ozark County.
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Britt says prior to the threat two weeks ago, the school employed a part-time school protection officer whose schedule was not made public as part of the private safety plan. She says since the incident, the school district has had two officers from the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office on campus. One full-time officer will be maintained for the remainder of the school year. Moving forward, the Bakersfield School District will be hiring a full-time school protection officer.
She says students took the incident seriously and, they have been encouraged to bring information to school officials.
Britt says the main goal for the past two weeks is to support all those associated with the schools and help everyone to feel safe on campus.
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