By Meghan McDermott
The hot button issues being thrown at Dr. Reid are gangs, security and communication with the public the day of the stabbing.
"I'll be the first person to tell you that we do have a gang problem in Tyler, Texas. We do have gang members that go to school in Tyler, Texas," said Tyler ISD Superintendent, Dr. Randy Reid.
An admission echoed by the Tyler residents we spoke with.
"Well, there is a gang problem, but sometimes you just don't hear about it until something like this happens," said Rebecca Hernandez, a Tyler resident.
"Definitely, definitely. We never hear anything about it until something like this has to happen and that's awful, it's terrible," said Jade Sexton, a Tyler resident.
"Well, if he knew there was a problem, why didn't they increase security, instead of decreasing it?" said James Anthony, a Tyler resident.
As for security at John Tyler, Dr. Reid had this to say:
"We believe that we've had a significant level of security, but we don't believe that we're where we need to be," said Dr. Reid.
Those who spoke to CBS 19 say the security level is not where it should be.
"No, it wasn't good enough. It's a sad situation that this had to happen before they can see a need for security," said Anthony.
"I don't think they have metal detectors there and I don't see why not. They said the guy got stabbed. You can't get on a plane with anything hardly, but you can get into schools with a knife? That's insane," said Sexton.
"Things have changed so much in this world that security is important, even if they may not ever need it, but then something like this happens," said Hernandez.
As for how the district informed the public of Wednesday's stabbing.
"We got three phone calls from the school. They were all the same. Yeah, the information came out pretty well," said David Walker, a Tyler ISD parent.
"I think we got as much as we could at that time," said Hernandez.
In the coming weeks, Dr. Reid says district and school administrators will be meeting to address these concerns. We will continue to follow any developments in this ongoing story.
Despite gang activity being brought to light this week, the TISD points out that Wednesday's stabbing was not gang related. They say it was an isolated event.
