Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-NewsStudents are seen outside Dalton High School as the school dismissed classes for the day on Friday.  

DALTON, Ga. — Dalton High School student Haley Harrison said she was a little afraid to come back to school on Friday, two days after police said a teacher fired a bullet from a revolver through a classroom window.

“But my friends asked me to come back. I decided to come back so we could all be together,” she said. “It was OK, a little scary.”

Several students the Daily Citizen-News spoke to Friday afternoon said attendance was down from an average day but not significantly.

Dalton High Principal Steve Bartoo declined to comment when approached by a reporter.

Harold Brock was waiting in the car pickup line on Manly Street to get his granddaughter Friday afternoon.

“She was afraid to come back,” he said. “I was afraid, too. But she said she needed to go because she didn’t want to get behind in her grades. I asked her if she was OK and told her if she didn’t feel comfortable to talk to a counselor and if she still didn’t feel comfortable to call me and I’d come get her. But she didn’t call. As far as I know it has been a normal day.”

Interim Superintendent Don Amonett said on Wednesday that four counselors and a school social worker would be available for students and staff on Friday, and also “other response personnel who are planned for by system officials in the event of traumatic events.”

Brock said he was surprised to see so many cars in the pickup line.

“I thought a lot of people would stay out,” he said. “There’s nowhere near as many cars here as there normally is, but I’m still surprised there are this many.”

Pam Garrett was waiting to pick up her grandson, a freshman.

“I wasn’t afraid to let him come to school today because he wasn’t afraid,” she said. “He didn’t understand why they didn’t have school (Thursday). But he didn’t know that teacher. He never had a class with him, and he was in a different part of the building, so it didn’t affect him the way it did some of the other students.”

The teacher, Randal Davidson, waived his first appearance in Magistrate Court and his attorney requested Davidson be placed on the Superior Court calendar for Tuesday, according to the district attorney. Davidson remains in the Whitfield County jail without bond. He is charged with aggravated assault (gun), terroristic threats and acts, carrying a weapon in school safety zones (non-license), reckless conduct, disrupting a public school and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

While the number of cars in the afternoon pickup line was down from normal, Garrett said the morning drop-off was a different matter.

“It was crazy this morning. It took me 30 minutes to get from the library to the school. I think maybe more people were bringing their kids to school rather than letting them ride the bus. I don’t know how else to explain it,” she said.

Freshman Dori Reynolds said she didn’t have any concerns about coming back.

“It was a good day,” she said. “Everyone was supportive. There were fewer people in my classes, but it wasn’t a big difference.”

But 10th-grader Cristian Lara said he was a “little bit” scared to come back.

“It was definitely an eerie feeling, a little uncomfortable,” he said. “I’d say attendance was less than average, but not substantially less.”

Freshman Ellen Kirk said she had no concerns about returning to school.

“I knew there would be a lot of police here,” she said. “It was a good atmosphere. Everyone was supportive. There were a lot of compassion dogs, and kids were taking advantage of them. They would bring them to the classroom, and they were in the media center if you wanted to sit with them and pet them.”

Dalton Police Department spokesman Bruce Frazier said there was a heightened police presence at the school.

“It varied throughout the day,” he said. “We tried to be visible, to reassure people. I talked to the (school resource officer) and at any given time, we probably had between five and 10 officers on campus. On a typical day, we have one officer on campus.”