Louisa schools to get weapons detectors
Louisa schools to get weapons detectors
Louisa County Public Schools will equip each of its six schools with weapons detectors ahead of the 2023-24 academic year, Superintendent Doug Straley announced in a video shared Friday evening.
Straley said implementing the detectors adds another layer of security to local schools and the decision was unanimously backed by the division’s Safe Schools Task Force, a collection of about 50 community members including law enforcement officers, elected officials, school staff and parents.
“At the end of the day, my main goal is to make sure I’m doing everything I can as your superintendent to make sure our students and staff are kept safe. That’s a responsibility I live with each day, and I can promise you I don’t take it lightly. I believe that with the addition of these detectors, we are adding another layer of protection at our schools that keeps us all as safe as possible, while also maintaining our warm and welcoming environment,” Straley said.
Straley described the detectors as “less intrusive than a metal detector” and specifically designed to identify weapons. He said that every student and visitor will be required to go through a detector upon entry to school buildings.
Weapons detectors are typically used in stadiums and other large venues because they are less sensitive than metal detectors and operate more efficiently. The detectors don’t require people to remove car keys or cell phones because they are designed to identify dense metal. Computers often trigger their alarms, however, and items like umbrellas and large three-ring binders could also set them off.
The division plans to install the detectors in the coming weeks and use them in summer school on a trial basis. At the beginning of the next school year, they will be implemented via a phased plan, Straley said.
Each school’s administration will select a team of employees to receive specialized training to staff the detectors, Straley said in a telephone interview Friday night. To ensure that students can enter school buildings quickly and with minimal intrusion, the division plans to update its school supply list, removing items that could trigger the detectors, and communicate additional information to students and parents about how the devices operate prior to the next school year.
“Our administrative teams have visited several schools that use these same units and have developed a quick and efficient plan to address this,” Straley said. “Our goal is to make the process quick and easy as students enter the building.”
A demonstration included in the video shows high school students placing their computers on a table before moving through the detector and elementary school students, who don’t typically take computers home, traveling directly through the device. If a student or visitor triggers the detector’s alarm, they will be subject to a search.
Friday evening’s announcement came as a surprise to many community members as the Louisa County School Board hasn’t publicly discussed implementing weapons detectors or solicited public input. Straley said Friday night that the decision to purchase the detectors was vetted via the Safe Schools Task Force, noting that 12 to 15 of its members traveled to other localities to see the devices in action. The task force, which convenes at least four times a year, doesn’t hold public meetings.
At its March meeting, the school board voted 6-0 to spend $375,966.50 on 23 weapons detectors, 23 handheld metal detectors, ancillary items and training for staff. Jackson District representative Frances Goodman was absent.
The purchase was not publicly discussed at the meeting but green-lighted along with a handful of purchase orders as part of the board’s consent agenda, a block vote that typically covers routine administrative items. Straley said that the division used federal pandemic relief funds to buy the detectors at a cost of $15,498 each. The devices have a minimum seven-year lifespan and Ceia USA, their manufacturer, provides yearly software updates.
The division purchased Ceia’s OPENGATE model, according to the purchase order. A marketing brochure describes the OPENGATE device as a “groundbreaking” system that provides “automatic screening of people with backpacks and bags for threat detection.” The brochure states that the devices are user-friendly and portable and don’t require any mechanical or electrical connection between their two free-standing towers.
Straley said that the division considered various options but chose OPENGATE because its less intrusive than some devices while still offering the functionality the division desired. LCPS initially considered purchasing the devices only for the middle school and high school, he said, but instead opted to install detectors across all six schools.
A growing number of school divisions in Virginia are implementing weapons detectors in the wake of a six-year-old shooting his teacher at a Newport News elementary school in January and other weapons-related incidents. Henrico County Public Schools announced last week that it plans to install detectors in all 74 of its schools, pending school board approval. HCPS has had multiple incidents involving threats and weapons recovered on its campuses, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Straley said in his video that the decision to implement the devices in Louisa wasn’t prompted by “any sort of incident on our campuses.” Rather, it’s part of an ongoing effort to upgrade the division’s safety standards. He pointed to previous efforts to strengthen school safety including the division’s 2019 decision to place a school resource officer in every school. More recently, the division added two crisis counselors who work with students from all six schools and placed an additional school counselor in each elementary school and the middle school.
“Our focus is on being proactive, not reactive. Our goal is to continue to enhance our standard of safety at LCPS,” Straley said.
