LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. — It's been one week since school started in Palm Beach County and WPTV is learning exclusive new details about how the metal detector program is going.
The devices are being tested at four high schools — Seminole Ridge Community High School, John I. Leonard High School, Palm Beach Lakes Community High School, and Palm Beach Gardens Community High School — and if successful, they could expand to all high schools district-wide.
A week into school at Seminole Ridge High School, they've made adjustments to get everyone through metal detectors in about 35 minutes, down from an hour on the first day of school.
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"We’re six days into it today and everyone was in class on time. So that’s a good thing," Seminole Ridge High School principal Robert Hatcher said.
Getting more than 2,000 students through metal detectors and to class on time is no small feat.
"I’m proud of them. Not every school has to go through this," Hatcher said.
Hatcher told WPTV education reporter Stephanie Susskind on Thursday that he believes there's no safer school in Palm Beach County.
After testing the metal detectors over the summer, they are now in full use at Seminole Ridge and three other schools with the principals talking on a regular basis about what's working and what's not.
"What are some of the things you’ve been able to adjust in the past week?" Susskind asked Hatcher.
"The ebb and flow of that. Getting kids to understand the process has really been the only challenge we’ve dealt with," Hatcher answered.
Hatcher added they're letting students onto campus at 6:45 a.m. instead of 7 a.m., adjusted the locations of the metal detectors, and are now getting students through the line in less than 10 minutes.
"If they arrive late, yeah, they are going to be tardy," Hatcher said. "If they are late because we have a backlog or something went wrong, we’re not in the business of punishing kids for something they didn’t do, that wasn’t their fault. And that’s what we’re trying to work through."
"I feel a little safer to stop things from getting through that shouldn’t be there," student Brandon Burke said.
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Hatcher said students are expected to have their ID and Chromebook — which can set off a metal detector — out before they pass through the device. He said they have not found anything illegal on campus.
"A couple of vapes have shown themselves and that’s unfortunate," Hatcher said.
But school leaders have discovered that an additional set of metal detectors at Seminole Ridge will really speed up the process.
"The first couple days, I was late to my first period because there was a big crowd outside," student Emily Paladino said. "It doesn’t really change anything in my daily routine. So if it makes the school safer, I’m all for it."
School district police said nothing illegal has been confiscated on any of the four campuses using metal detectors in the first week of school, and each pilot school will receive an additional set of metal detectors in the near future.
"The kids are adjusting at all four high schools. Understanding the process, understanding the routine. Once we get there, I believe it will go district-wide. I think it’s that good," Hatcher said, adding that "by no means are we perfect, but we’re getting there."
In the coming months, the Palm Beach County School Board is expected to decide whether to implement the metal detectors across all district high schools.