Student Advisory Committee members shared mixed feedback on the use of metal detectors in the Putnam County Schools at Thursday’s monthly school board meeting Thursday.
Upperman High School Student Abby Brown said students understand why some residents want the detectors.
“Out of the students that supported the metal detectors in the school the majority said that they appreciate the feeling of security that the metal detectors bring they like not having to worry about threats or intruders in our school, and either do not think that there was a long wait time with them or they view their safety as more important than any wait time,” Brown said
Upperman High School Student Landon Earnest said there are many cons to the metal detectors, including the lengthy process of taking binders out of backpacks to go through. Director of Schools Corby King said a final decision has not been made and that a survey has been distributed to both students and parents to gather feedback.
“It’s really gonna depend on what parents and students say in those surveys,” King said. “And so it’s gonna be really important for us to get a chance to hear what everybody thinks, and then we will start looking at how much it costs. There are a lot of factors still involved.”
Earnest brought up other concerns about students using alternative doors, where students can enter without going through the metal detectors. Earnest said as a work-based learning student he noticed that he did not have to go through the metal detectors when returning to school campus later in the school day.
Earnest also asked if the sensitivity of the detectors could be turned down to where binders would not have to be pulled. School Board Chairman Lynn McHenry said he learned more information after speaking with the manufacturer.
“The sensitivity can be changed, but even with those changes, there’s still going to be several things it picks up, and the three-ring binder, which is one of the biggest things, our understanding is it’s still going to be picked up and will still have to be emptied,” McHenry said.
King said if the school board decided to move forward with the use of metal detectors, they would be installed at the front and back entrances of each high school and bus loops. King said installing detectors would exceed six figures.
“We estimate, you know, recurring funds a little over $100,000 a year, and that’s just an estimate depending on how many we need, but that is kind of the starting point,” King said. “But then that’s not including the purchase of the number of gates that we would need. So there are still a lot of things, a lot of factors to consider. We have to decide if you are just going to have them first thing in the morning, because you do get 85-90 percent of the population at that time, or if we are going to have somebody man them all day to get everyone that is coming through.”
Earnest asked if the school board decides not to follow through with the metal detectors, would they implement a program to try to prevent students from thinking about violence against the school? King said the school system has programs already in place.
“Those are things we do currently, and we do all the time, and we have classes for those type things and counselors and social workers, so we do all those things now, and we can always be vigilant, but that’s why we encourage students if you hear something, if you say something. Make sure you say something, speak up.”
In other business, the School Board approved a $20,179 agreement with Schiller of Clarksville to supply door hardware for the Early Learning Academy.
The system approved the purchase of the remaining Cookeville High School band uniforms.