Kamehameha Schools notified parents and faculty yesterday of the report of a gun on the ninth- and 10th-grade campus.

A 10th-grade Kamehameha Schools student reported yesterday that one of four older boys, who tried to sell marijuana to him on the school campus, had what appeared to be a gun in his pocket.

The student said the incident occurred before 8 a.m., prior to when access to the campus is closed to traffic.

Kamehameha said it believes the four older boys were not students, and reported the incident to police, who are investigating the case.

The attempted drug sale occurred the same week the school began testing its ability to mobilize security at the Kapalama campus, adding deputy sheriffs, which began Monday.

News reports said the beefed-up security came after a 20-year-old Kamehameha Schools graduate, who had been denied permission to speak at an assembly recently, was arrested last month on suspicion of firearm offenses.

"(Yesterday’s) incident is not related to the matter reported in the news earlier this week, which prompted us to test our ability to procure and quickly mobilize additional security in advance of an identified threat," a school news release said.

Some parents criticized the school for its lack of communication about the added security, while others were not worried, said Kamehameha Schools spokesman Kekoa Paulsen.

The school had send out an e-mail Wednesday on the added security. "Since there was no threat, but it was an exercise, we did not feel there was a need to publicize it," Paulsen said.