Nearly 2,500 students walk through McLean’s main entrances daily. That is 2,500 backpacks, 2,500 pockets, and 2,500 chances of delay. This year, McLean High School is implementing metal detectors in main entrances to prevent prohibited items from entering the school.
Although this sounds reassuring, in reality this solution offers nothing close to true protection. Rather, it takes a large amount of labor and reminds students that school isn’t a place of trust, rather a place of fear and suspicion.
“It’s debatable whether the benefits are equal to the costs of extra time, labor, and work that it takes to implement the system.” psychology teacher Joseph Dwyer said.
Staff members at McLean are utilizing most of their morning before school to set up and prepare the metal detectors for students.
“In total, my first two to two and half hours of the day are dedicated to setting up and running the metal detectors…It’s usually just me and one other [person],” Safety and Security specialist Bart Bailey said.
Staff members spend 12 hours each week doing labor intensive work to set up the metal detectors, and 6 to 7 people are required at each metal detector entrance for 45 minutes to run the metal detectors when students enter the building. At this rate, staff burnout is inevitable.
Additionally, these detectors are ineffective due to the amount of loopholes that they have. If someone were trying to cause harm to the school they wouldn’t simply walk through the metal detectors at the beginning of the day. Rather, they would enter through an unguarded entrance throughout the day.
“If somebody [is] trying to get in school to do harm, they don’t care if they’re metal detectors, they’ll just walk through the doors, “ Bailey said
According to Citizens for Juvenile Justice, there is lack of evidence that supports the fact that metal detectors are effective, and instead, they can contribute to a more distrusting environment.
“I worry that the implementation of the metal detectors changes the nature of the educational environment into more of a prison-like environment instead of a pleasant place to learn,” Dwyer said.
The lines of students walking into school raising their computers above their heads not only creates a threatening environment, but also adds a uniformity that takes away from the enjoyable nature of school.
Many believe that metal detectors are the most effective way to prevent weapons and acts of violence, but a solution that would be effective is monitoring the security cameras that the school has implemented on the building’s interior and exterior.
“They are operating at all times, 24 hours a day, but we don’t [regularly] monitor them,” Bailey said.
If the school finds staff members willing to monitor the security cameras at all times, violence can be stopped by security or police as soon as suspicious activity is noticed.
It is indisputable that violence in schools is a prevalent issue that needs to be addressed, and that metal detectors may add a layer of protection. However, that minimal protection is not worth the workload, prison-like feeling, and ineffectiveness.
