VIERA, Fla. – Another Central Florida school district is considering using metal detectors.
Tuesday, the Brevard County School board listened to a presentation about a concealed weapons detection system called OPENGATE which is in more than 1,000 schools across the country and more than a dozen school districts in Florida like Orange County.
“Why don’t we have metal detectors in Brevard County at our schools, or even at our school board meetings, being a government facility?” School Board Chair Megan Wright asked.
OPENGATE is a pair of battery-powered pillars about 3 feet apart.
They only weigh about 25 lbs. so they can be moved anywhere within schools or sporting events.
Students walk in-between them, and if there’s a weapon in their backpack, a red light will go off and then their backpacks will be searched.
The presenters to the board talked about the impact the metal detectors are having on school safety.
Chris Usselman from Communications Technologies said students don’t want to bring suspicious things through them.
“The feedback we’re getting, the stories we’re getting from school districts is that when these are used in those random settings, there is a significant amount of either paraphanelia or other items discovered or being discarded because they see these and they know something’s coming,” Usselman said.
Families speaking to News 6 reporter James Sparvero at Cape View Elementary School said they want metal detectors to protect their children.
“I think it’s important with the massive amount of school shootings that have been going on,” parent Bethany Roberts said. “I mean, we have to do it at airports. Why not do it for our kids?”
Brevard’s superintendent said the conversation is early. The district has not committed yet to purchasing them. It’s $17,000 for each OPENGATE.
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