The Observation Deck

Well, I might as well be the one to ask it. Depending upon who you talk to, and where people are from, they either say, "Metal detectors in our schools???" or "We don't have metal detectors in our schools???"

I don't want to need metal detectors in our schools. I read Superintendent Patterson's letter carefully and I believe that this District takes the safety of our children very seriously. At the same time, if there had been a metal detector at the door in Chardon, there would have been no shooting spree, inside the school, anyway.

I asked my Middle School son how he would feel about it, if it would it make him uncomfortable to have to pass through a metal detector to get into school. He said, "Kind of." But went on to say that hearing about this school shooting makes him very uncomfortable also, and to know that something easy could have stopped it, is something to think about it. The last thing he said was, "What do we do with our keys? Would it be like the airport?"

I'm hoping someone with some experience will come on and enlighten us, like Mr. Favre. I'm sure this must have come up in the past.

Betsy Voinovich

http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/school_metal_detectors.html

http://www.edweek.org/media/hankin-02security.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=334

FWIW

Betsy:

Certainly at these times the discussion of metal detectors is a worthy one. They are everywhere in our lives nowadays, airports being the most obvious, however also in courts and public buildings and even national monuments.

I know of no suburban schools in the area with metal detectors. Cleveland Schools were going to install them in their buildings, but I do not know how far they have gotten. In 2007, a student got past metal detectors at Cleveland's Success Tech Academy with two guns. Two students and two staff members were shot before the student turned the gun on himself. So metal detectors can be defeated or bypassed.

At Lakewood High School, there are 30 some doors. The logistics of installing detectors and screening 2,000 students in and out and back in would be tremendous. The necessary devices, waiting and chute areas at each device, and additional dedicated staff would be a huge undertaking. That added layer would have benefit, however would not be a catch all or total problem solver. For example, there are guns meant to be less detectable.

That being said, it is certainly something worthy of another look. Technology is always improving and there may be better and easier to implement devices. It will be some time before all the details of the Chardon incident are known and examined and what lessons can be learned or conclusions drawn.

Meanwhile, we know communication is a major prevention. History of these incidents tell us that they generally did not come out of the blue. People knew or signals were missed or not acted upon. We all must be alert for comments or behavior indicating a potential problem. I know we work very hard at looking for kids at risk. Safety of our kids is utmost in our staff's minds and I have witnessed their concern. We always look for ways to be safer, be it devices or other means.

Ed is so right: "signals were missed or not acted upon." My unsubstantiated guess is that 98% of these instances are desparate, last-gasp cries for attention/help by these tortured souls.

As with most things that boil to the surface and manifest themselves through socially-unacceptable behavior or actions ... there are long-perculating, deep-seated maladies at the root of the issue.

Somewhere along the line, we flew right passed the point where metal detectors might affect change!

Peter Grossetti wrote:Ed is so right: "signals were missed or not acted upon." My unsubstantiated guess is that 98% of these instances are desparate, last-gasp cries for attention/help by these tortured souls.

As with most things that boil to the surface and manifest themselves through socially-unacceptable behavior or actions ... there are long-perculating, deep-seated maladies at the root of the issue.

Somewhere along the line, we flew right passed the point where metal detectors might affect change!

Some things need to be protected.

One of those things is the freedom of learning. While it seems like this is out of control, I
would like to point out the actual cases of this happening are so rare we are all lucky. I
am not aware of any case like this in a city like Lakewood, or Cleveland. Mostly always rural
or suburban settings, often where guns and hunting are common. I am not jumping to
conclusions, just saying...

I would hate to see metal detectors at the schools, libraries, etc.

I have seen the "detectors" at airports have very little impact except for separating
rappers and actors from their pieces. When you look at the billions spent, on again
a very rare occurrence, it seems to be excessive.

FWIW


.

"If you treat the students like animals, that is exactly the way they will behave"
--Principal Joe Clark of Eastside High in "Lean on Me"

I think almost every teenager has periods of depression and anger; most don't act it out, but our common culture supports such behaviour. To the other kids, this seems either normal or weird, but I think they would never consider turning in another student for such thoughts. Parents almost never discover these thoughts, because most kids are at an age when they are trying to establish their independence, and one aspect of that is keeping secrets from your parents.

So you are right that the signs leading to such incidents are seeable; but they are usually seen in hindsight, and not recognized until an incident occurs.

I think such incidents are found around the world, in all cultures, but are more damaging here because we have so many weapons floating around. So we are unlikely to be able to prevent the thoughts that lead to such incidents, or even some level of violence resulting from these thoughts, but we could reduce the fatalities involved by removing the weapons.

I think all schools should consider installing metal detectors. When I send my kids to school, all I should worry about is whether they can get through the spelling test, not whether they come home alive. This kind of violence is obviously becoming a trend. My mother is a substitute teacher and has worked in different environments. She has witnessed things such as an elderly cafeteria lady being physically attacked by a student. Today, a kid at Normandy High School thought it would be cool to threaten to blow up the high school with a bomb. The cost of installing metal detectors, and any other equipment and personnel to keep our kids safe is worth the investment. No one can ever replace those kids we lost this week and doing everything we can to prevent such a horrible event from happening again is something I consider a high priority.

This kid, as well as the others who did this sort of thing, may or may not have had warning signals. I hear about stories of serial killers who were so charismatic and such "nice guys," no one would have thought they would have done such things. Psychopaths are psychopaths, whether we recognized them right away is arbitrary as far as I'm concerned. I just want our kids safe. We can't "guess" who the next nut case will be. It could be your neighbor, your leader, your brother, or even your daughter. It doesn't matter. We should do what it takes to prevent more pain and anguish.

The reality is that cost is an issue, we do not have unlimited money. Where do we draw the line? Cleveland has metal detectors in most of their schools yet there is still violence there. Metal detectors will not stop all violence, it will just stop one rare possible action. Should we turn our schools into prisons with razor wire, cameras, guards posted at every door, keys to get in and out, etc. I don't want that for my kids. That is not a good educational environment, that is prison.

I spoke to my oldest son about the idea of metal detectors in the school. His first comment was "if someone wants to target a group of kids to shoot, then a line of kids waiting to go through a metal detector to get into a school would be an easy target". He is right and there would be a gigantic line, it would be a logistical nightmare. I agree with Ed about the doors, the high school has so many doors and the kids go back and forth between the mods and the main building. It would be impossible to check every kid multiple times a day. I would rather the limited available tax dollars be spent on actually helping the kids.

I did some VERY quick internet research on the number of public schools in Ohio, finding results ranging betwen 3,710 and 4,300 total (elementary, middle school and high school). For the sake of this exercse, let's split the difference and say 4,000 (remember: we are not including private schools)

A mid-range walk-through metal detector will be about $2,500 per -- at a highly discounted rate. (quick internet search)

That's $10 million to put a metal detector at just ONE entrance per school!! So, let's say we want to protect only THREE of each school's entrances (there a certainly more than three) ... we are up to $30million. Great, that's the cost to purchase them. Does anyone know if installation fee is included in the purchase price?? (and only god knows what the annual maintenance might fee be!).

Should the metal detectors be manned? Probably, right? So let's say one person (but what good will that do, really?) per metal detector-protected door. That's 12,000 entrances statewide, thus 12,000 employees. Wanna pay them $10 an hour and have them work 35 hours a week for 44 weeks a year? That's $15,400 base salary X 12,000 employees = $184million/year for one guard per metal-detectored entrance. ANNUALLY! (and that's just "regular school hours;" NOT including afterschool activities (you know: band practice, basketball games, senior play rehearsals, parent-teacher conferences, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., ect., ect., etc.)

I am making no statement/judgement by presenting this ... just adding something to the conversation!

Let's extend the example out further---- a requirement that monitored detectors be required at bars and other establishments so as to enforce the Conceal Carry Weapon law which assumes that people will follow the law.
Unfortunately, this is a horse out of the barn issue (the proliferation of lethal weapons).
I have talked in the past few days with a friend of 40 years who has a CCW and guns and he sees the essential conflicts between the need for self defense and the almost impossibility of proper screening of gun users.
At the moment, I see no alternative but a continued vigilance and a heightened awareness that wasn't necessary in "the good old days".
Stan Austin