JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Duval County Public Schools this month began rolling out new weapons detection systems at elementary schools after the School Board approved a $2 million contract with the security company.
The technology is already in place at Duval middle and high schools. According to the district, DCPS plans to bring the systems to its nearly 90 elementary schools over the next three years.
Fifth-grader Madeline Herbin admits she had her reservations when her school, John E. Ford K-8, rolled out OpenGates weapons detection systems. The school started using the technology last school year.
“I was like, is this going to be scary? Is it going to take a while? Will it affect me getting late to class?” Herbin said. “But it was actually pretty quick and easy, and it made me feel safer.”
Now, John E. Ford joins a growing list of district schools that leaders say will soon be more secure.
DCPS Police Chief Jackson Short said he is hopeful the technology will discourage students and visitors from bringing weapons to school.
“What we’re looking for is for the weapon to never even come on campus,” Short said. He added that the district believes weapons detection technology is “a great deterrent” to keep students from bringing anything inappropriate to school to begin with.
If that doesn’t work, the portable, walk-through systems are designed to detect a wide range of threats, including knives, firearms and explosives. DCPS police said the systems caught a firearm at a district high school last year.
While the new technology may take some getting used to, students like Mackenzie Peterson say it didn’t take long for those initial nerves to wear off.
“It was nerve-wracking, because I thought it was only certain students doing it, but then when I saw everyone else doing it, I felt fine,” Peterson said.
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