COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Tuesday, the Richland One School District school board met for a regularly scheduled meeting with school safety as one of their main items on the agenda.
The meeting opened with a prayer for the well being and continued protection of Richland One students.
"We pray that you would cover our district with your divine love and that you would keep Richland One together on one accord," said a local pastor from Eastover.
On Sunday, an Eau Claire High School senior was shot and killed off of Saddletrail Road.
Then on Monday, a student at Lower Richland high took a gun to school and was arrested on campus after deputies found the gun inside the teenager's car.
Parents responded to the school district statements on Facebook but none showed up to make public comments and express concerns at the meeting.
Superintendent Craig Witherspoon spoke about the recent gun violence saying safety is the district's first priority.
"We are looking at what we can do to ensure that our students are safe and our staff is safe," the superintendent said. "What happens to students in out in our community carries over and we end up having to deal with it anyway."
The board approved $500,000 for safety upgrades to schools that are to be determined.
They will start talking about changes to safety protocols throughout the summer.
"Our overarching goal is to keep our schools, to keep our staff, and to keep our students as safe as possible that's what's at the front of mind now," Witherspoon explained. "How we do that... we can have those conversations."
Richland One is hoping to upgrade their existing metal detectors and install weapon detectors that will be in place every day at certain schools throughout the district.
The next Richland One School Board meeting will be on June 14 at 7 p.m. at the Richland One Administrative Building on 1616 Richland Street.