DANBURY — A Newtown middle school teacher filed a not-guilty plea Wednesday to a charge that he brought a loaded .45 caliber pistol to school earlier this month.
Jason M. Adams, 46, did not appear in court, but his attorney, John Maxwell, filed a not-guilty plea on his behalf, according to court records. Superior Court Judge Kevin Russo said that the case has been continued to May 25.
Court records show that on April 6 Adams was carrying the pistol in a gun holster when someone at the Newtown Middle School noticed it and alerted a school security officer.
Newtown police officer Adam Greco responded to the school, arrested Adams and confiscated the pistol, records show.
Adams has a valid pistol permit but carrying a weapon in a public school is illegal in Connecticut. He was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, a class D felony.
School officials said that Adams, a science teacher at the school, was placed on leave pending the results of their investigation.
In December 2012, a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 20 first-grade students and six adults.
Sandy Hook Promise, a group formed by several victims’ parents after the 2012 shooting, said in a statement: “We are dismayed that this could happen in a school, especially one in a community as traumatized as Newtown. We commend the Newtown Police Department and Newtown Public Schools for their thoughtful handling of the arrest of science teacher Jason Adams for violating the law by bringing a weapon onto school grounds.”
Following the shooting, Newtown officials placed armed police officers in every school. They have since replaced them with armed school security officers, who are mostly retired officers.
The security officer assigned to the middle school is a retired Shelton police officer. He disarmed Adams and held him in the school office until police arrived.
