SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A teacher was arrested at her school in a wealthy Seminole County neighborhood after a school secretary found a handgun on the ground where kids could get it.

Michelle McGhee is a third grade teacher at Heathrow Elementary School. She's anything but a hardened criminal. That's why it's hard for parents to believe she had a gun at school, loaded with hollow-point bullets.

Investigators said the school secretary found the weapon on the ground just about 30 feet from students around 7:45 Wednesday morning. The loaded gun was next to a cell phone and administrators soon figured out both belonged to McGhee.

Investigators said the 56-year-old teacher had no explanation, or at least didn't give one, about how her loaded .38-caliber handgun ended up on the ground so close to students at Heathrow Elementary School.

"We are very fortunate that a law-abiding citizen and an adult found it," said Lt. Dennis Lemma, Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said the school secretary found the gun, along with McGhee's cell phone, near a bus ramp around 7:45 in the morning and brought it to the principal. Investigators said McGhee told the principal she threw the gun in her car and may have mixed it up with other items she normally brings to school.

That was little consolation for parents who later found out their kids were so close to a loaded weapon.

"It's just insanity," said parent Heather Wifall. "You shouldn't bring a gun on campus."

No one answered when Eyewitness News knocked at McGhee's home in Sanford. She reportedly told administrators she got the gun to protect herself because she recently had a plumber doing work at her house.

McGhee's neighbors said she's active in her church and they were surprised to hear about her arrest.

"They're both wonderful people," said McGhee's neighbor Judy Stephens.

Authorities said McGhee invoked her right to remain silent, so they aren't sure why the gun ended up where it did.

McGhee has a firearm's permit, but Florida Statutes clearly outline the specification for having a firearm on school grounds. Violation of the statute is a third degree felony.