On Tuesday morning, students were required to pass through weapon detectors on their way into school for the first time. Leading up to the installation of the weapon detectors, many students were wary of the decision because of the delays and inconvenience they could cause. Long lines were expected to get into school, and administrators even warned us that it might take longer than usual to get inside the building.
Tuesday morning, however, proved that those fears may have been exaggerated. The weapon detectors ran pretty smoothly, and the long lines that other schools in the district have seen after the installation were not present at Kingwood Park. Students who removed all of the necessary items got in quickly. The only time students struggled with delays is if their bag set off the detector. They had to go to a table, have their backpacks searched, and then sent back to go through the EVOLV system again.
The slight inconvenience is worth the safety and security the weapons detectors provide. In the past four years or so, Kingwood Park has seen gun threats and even an instance of a student bringing a weapon to school. While administration and campus police have dealt with these kinds of situations before, the weapon detectors provide an additional level of security, so hopefully those kinds of situations, or worse, will not arise in the future.
Administration told students ahead of time to remove three-ring binders, laptops, umbrellas, and eyeglass cases, as these items will set off the detectors. Some unlucky students seem to be finding that other items such as their spiral notebooks or small, metal tins also set the alarm off, but this is not the case for all students. While it is annoying to have to go back through the weapon detectors, sometimes multiple times, students will learn with time what to remove from their backpacks and how to get through the detectors quickly.
Students should be able to feel safe at school, and the temporary learning curve of the otherwise efficient weapon detectors is worth the security and peace of mind that they provide to students and staff, knowing that our campus is weapon-free.
