BATON ROUGE - The 40 caliber handgun with a switch that was discovered in a student's back pack at McKinley High School, and an unloaded .45 pistol found in a Belaire High School student's locker last month were just the tip of the iceberg according to an East Baton Rouge School Board member.

District 2 member Dadrius Lanus says during a "School Safety Panel" on Aug 20, the EBR Sheriff's Office said nine guns were confiscated from students across all EBR schools at the beginning of the school year. 

"To hear the sheriff's department say they confiscated nine guns and then we're having the conversation again about two more guns being brought on campus, that's an issue," he said. 

The nine guns includes charter and private schools, but had six of those were reported from public schools.

While Lanus is emphatic this was said by the sheriff's office at a public meeting, a spokesperson for the department says they are only aware of the two that were reported.

The potential revelation echoes a transparency issue surrounding EBR schools.

"Obviously what we're doing right now isn't working. We need to go back to the drawing board. We need to have discussions that have sense. We need to also talk to our students to understand why guns are being brought on campus."

After the guns were discovered at McKinley and Belaire, WBRZ reached out to school system officials on how the guns got into the schools and did not receive a definitive answer.

That information is still unclear.

"There are ongoing investigations right now and a lot of those things are going to come out whenever they give the data assessment about how those things are even plausible on school campuses," said Lanus. 

Two days before, Superintendent Lamont Cole discussed school safety at that same panel. Right now, Lanus says Cole is doing everything he can behind the scenes.

"I think they will hear from him, and I think those concerns are honest I think those concerns are true. I think the people need to continue to let that be known. If you want to hear from the superintendent, make sure you get on his schedule. If you want to talk to the superintendent, let's schedule some workshops."

He says currently the entire school district is working on a new comprehensive security plan but will need community input.

"A lot of what you see happening inside our schools is a direct correlation to what's happening inside our community. A lot of the problems, issues, situations, those things are boiling over inside of the communities where these students live, so by the time they get to school, it's a continuation of what we see happening there. We have to involve those communities. We have to involve those residents. We have to involve those parents."

Lanus plans to hold a series of town hall-style meetings to address school safety concerns soon.