Parents are furious after they say a fourth-grader brought an airsoft gun into their child’s classroom, and the school did not notify them.

The parents say their daughter is in fourth grade at North Lewis Elementary School in New Iberia.

On Monday when she came home from school, she told her parents that she had seen a gun in her classmate’s book sack. This was the first time that her parents heard about the incident.

“We don’t know if the gun was real or fake. [We] contacted the school to try to get some information, and they are refusing to give any information. The only statement I can get from them is, ‘We’re not at liberty to discuss this with you,'” Wayne Lacoste, the child’s father, said.

After News 10 contacted Iberia Parish School Superintendent Carey Laviolette, she released this statement: “An airsoft toy gun was removed from a fourth-grader’s book bag at North Lewis Elementary School. It posed no immediate threat to anyone.”

The statement went on to say, “The matter is being handled in accordance to school policy. Police were not called. Parents were not notified.”

“Parents need to be informed when there’s any situation at a school like this,” Lacoste argued. “Our children weren’t even addressed to let them know they were safe by faculty.”

Superintendent Laviolette said if the gun was real, police and parents would have been contacted.

Lacoste and his wife say they believe no matter what kind of gun it was, they still should have been notified.

“She was crying. Now she’s worrying about what’s going to happen. Is this going to happen again? She don’t want to go to school,” Lacoste said about his daughter.

Laviolette said there will be a hearing with the student services department to determine consequences for the student who brought the airsoft gun to school.