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Toledo Public Schools working to decrease the number of guns brought onto school properties

Wednesday's incident at Start High School is the fourth time a gun has been found in the last three weeks in TPS, with the first incident happening on Aug. 24.

TOLEDO, Ohio — We're only three weeks into the school year and four times a gun has been brought on Toledo Public Schools property.

Toledo Public Schools confirms to us that the gun was found Tuesday.

48-year-old Corey Harris was arrested after bringing an unloaded gun inside his bag while visiting a counselor at the school, according to Toledo police reports.

This incident is the fourth time a gun has been found in the last three weeks, with the first incident happening Aug. 24 at Bowsher High School.

RELATED: 16-year-old found with loaded 'ghost gun' at Bowsher HS

The district's Public Safety Director says it's very concerning because schools are part of the community and unfortunately what happens in the community can sometimes be brought into the schools. 

She says they are working on making things safer. Some of the measures include doing regular weapons searches in their schools - which are random - and using metal detectors more often in schools that have them.

"We don't use them currently every day, but that's something we are working on to increase that number of use, so that we can have weapons checks more often. That's something we are currently, actively working on to increase the number of weapons checks in our schools," said TPS Public Safety Director Diana Ruiz-Krause.

Meanwhile, she says there are things parents can do to help increase safety for our youth.

"That is something we have to work on," Ruiz-Krause said. "A big part of that is working with our parents and encouraging our parents to be involved in their student's lives. To know what's going on, to know what they're involved in, and to pay attention to their social media."

RELATED: Parents need to watch kids after block party shooting in central Toledo, urges leader of initiative to end gun violence

WTOL 11 also reached out to Toledo police about the increase of weapons being found in schools. 

Public Information Officer Lt. Paul Davis sent WTOL 11 this statement:

"These guns being recovered from schools represent the hard work of the Toledo Police school resource officers, and that their partnership with TPS is working to provide and maintain a safe learning environment for the students and staff. Parents can be assured that the SROs are vigilant in their duties to protect the students, and the discovery of these firearms shows that they are being successful in that mission".

Gun violence and the youth have been a big topic of conversation lately.

WTOL 11 contacted the city of Toledo and TPS board members for comments about these incidents and what they feel can be done to help. At the time of this writing, we have not heard back.

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