Clayton Co. student charged after bringing knife to school

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County woman is urging deputies to remain in schools after officers said they caught her nephew with a knife on campus.

Romelo Goss, 17, is accused of bringing a knife on the North Clayton High School campus Monday.

A criminal warrant indicates an assistant principal found the knife in Goss' backpack during a random search.

Deputies say a principal took him to the office.

"You jumped up and ran out of the door and you were later apprehended by the Clayton County Sheriff's Department," Clayton County Magistrate Chief Judge Daphne Walker read in court.

Some parents say this incident is proof Clayton County Sheriff's deputies need to remain in schools as student resource officers.

Even Goss' legal guardian thinks that.

"I believe that the deputies definitely need to be in the schools," Doris Thompson said outside of the courthouse where her nephew went before a judge.

Sheriff Victor Hill has told the school district he will be removing his deputies because he doesn't have enough manpower to staff the schools. They will leave at the end of the school year.

The school system voted Monday night to hire 38 security guards to fill the gap until the end of the school year.

Some students don't want the deputies to go.

"I feel like those deputies are there to protect us," North Clayton senior Chianti Gatewood told Channel 2's Tom Jones.

She says the deputies bond with students and give them the resources they need.

"They break up fights. They counsel us when we need help. They even give uspaper and pencils," she said.

Thompson says her nephew had the knife because other students had been threatening him.

She thinks students will be more prone to violence now that they know the deputies are leaving.

"With them knowing they are leaving it's only natural that they'll feel that they can bring the weapons back in the following day," she said.

The school district is considering whether to hire its own police force. Cost is a sticking point.

Jones tried to contact Hill for a comment on his decision to remove the deputies but he hasn't returned his calls.

WSBTV