LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. — Metal detectors have arrived in four Palm Beach County high schools, which will test them out before the school board decides whether to implement the security devices across all district high schools.
The metal detectors are located at Seminole Ridge Community High School, Palm Beach Lakes Community High School, John I. Leonard High School, and Palm Beach Gardens Community High School.
The principals at all four schools volunteered to be first to test the equipment.
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An official pilot program at the four schools will begin on the first day of the new school year on Aug. 10.
Chief Sarah Mooney of the School District of Palm Beach County's Police Department hopes that by early September, she’ll have enough information to present to the school board about how the program is going, so they can decided whether to move forward with purchasing metal detectors for all high schools.
"It will take a least a month before we get the first feedback," Mooney told WPTV education reporter Stephanie Susskind on Thursday. "We want to collect data on how many students are going through, how long it takes them to do it, the little hiccups we might find that could make it inefficient at times, and then try to work out how to make it better."
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The Palm Beach County School Board in May approved a contract, not to exceed $2.25 million, giving Superintendent Mike Burke the authority to buy metal detectors from Ohio-based company CEIA USA to eventually put them in all high schools in the school district.
However, some board members raised concerns about logistics and getting thousands of high school students through metal detectors and to class on time.
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Burke assured the school board he would not purchase any additional metal detectors — outside of the four high schools in the pilot program — until the district is able to run the program and discuss the outcome.
The superintendent added that approving the contract will lock in the price for the metal detectors, even though the district is not making the purchase right away.
"Ultimately, we would like to have enough information to bring to the board members the first week of September to review," Mooney said. "This is what we've done so far, this is where we're at, and this is what we're seeing, and get some direction from them. So do we continue testing? Are there things we need to work out and get further direction on? At what point do you ask for more testing? Do you ask to cancel it, or let's order more units and get them up and running on more campuses?"
Every half second, a student can walk through new metal detectors at Seminole Ridge Community High School, a new normal to start the school day.
"I just think it's a natural evolution of doing everything we can to keep our students and faculty safe," principal Robert Hatcher.
Hatcher volunteered to be one of the first schools to test the equipment. He's using summer school to train staff before the first day of school, learning the items that will set off the detectors, like laptops.
"It's a small sampling, but it has proven to be valuable for us to run through the system and make sure everything is dialed in the way it needs to be," Hatcher said.
There are about 300 students during summer school, a far cry from the nearly 2,400 that will attend Seminole Ridge in the new school year.
"I do believe this is the safest school in Palm Beach County, no question. But to have the opportunity to be part of the pilot program for this, in addition to adding another layer of safety to Seminole Ridge, why wouldn't we?" Hatcher said.
If you are worried about delays, the metal detectors are calibrated specifically not to alert for cell phones or even jewelry. It's really looking for items that are not supposed to be in schools.
"It breaks your heart because it's changed so much," grandparent Cindi Walker said.
Walker's kids and now grandchildren have walked the halls at Seminole Ridge. While it's hard to accept metal detectors are at the school, she's glad they are here.
"It brings you peace. Peace of mind that your child is going through this and is going to be safe when they come through the gates," Walker said.
"We don't want our campuses looking like prisons, but this is a seamless technology if you can implement it correctly," Chief Mooney said. "The kids are just walking through it. It's very non-invasive."
Mooney said she expects some growing pains the first few weeks of school, but does not expect big backups at school entrances. Each entry point will have at least one detector.
"This is not like a 'gotcha' thing. We want people to understand we are trying to add a layer of security to the district. This is a test phase to see if we can do it efficiently and effectively without disrupting things," Mooney said.
If something does set off the machine, the student will bring their backpack to a private area to search for what may have set it off, and police will get involved if necessary.
While this isn't foolproof, Hatcher hopes it will bring some comfort to students, parents, and staff.
"If there were a magic wand, we would have done it 20 years ago. This is just another step and another evolution in making schools safer," Hatcher said.
So far, the metal detectors have not found anything that should not be in school. Testing will continue until the first day of school when the pilot program officially begins.
"It should be a pretty seamless transition to using it when August comes, but I'm excited to get going with it," Mooney said. "There are a couple things we want to do with signage and notification to the parents of the kids who go to these schools where the pilots are being conducted."
Chief Mooney cautions that the school doesn't have anything that is a "100% guarantee that this will be the be all, end all to school safety."
"It requires layers, it requires people, it requires information, it requires equipment. But still, nothing is foolproof," Mooney said. "We can't lose sight of the smaller things. Just the personal contacts with people, information that you see, threats that you might hear. This is just one additional piece that might help us."
Records show more than 27 weapons were confiscated on Palm Beach County high school campuses during the 2022/23 school year. At least six of them were guns.