Port Arthur school superintendent Mark Porterie is lauding a teacher and students for following training when they learned that a kindergartener brought a firearm to school on Monday.

Students have been taught that if they see something or hear something out of the ordinary to alert a teacher, and that’s what happened.

Superintendent Mark Porterie said the 6-year-old began to talk to classmates about the unloaded, broken firearm. Then the students reported this to the teacher who investigated the claims. The student did turn the weapon over to the teacher. Porterie said the student never displayed the firearm.

“At that time, law enforcement and the parents were informed,” Porterie said. “We did send out a message through Blackboard Connect to the parents letting them know what happened. At no time was any student or staff in danger.”

Porterie commended the teacher for the effort and the students, adding that this leads him to believe the students understand the safety protocol that is being taught to them.

The teacher, he said, took the information seriously. At the time she hadn’t seen the gun but she acted and investigated the incident and took the word of the class.

Porterie said the gun was brought from home — he never took it out, except when the teacher asked him to.

Since the child is a minor Porterie could not elaborate on how the parents responded.

“We followed the student code of conduct,” he said. “We do not blame the student. For a 6-year-old to come to school with a gun, that is the fault of an adult, not the fault of a 6-year-old child.”