We are all asking questions about the new metal detectors being approved to appear in our school. On Monday September 12th, the Board of Education made the executive decision to place these newer metal detectors in all Wichita Public School high schools. The vote was 7-0.

“The district has reported five incidents involving guns and students since the beginning of the school year, and said in recent weeks that there have also been a number of fights.” Kake News released a story about the many incidents that brought a lot of attention to our school system on September 11.

No one wants to know there are guns being brought into their schools. School is a safe place for many children and when upsetting things like this happen makes everyone worried about if school is really a safe place. Well there is a upcoming change for all schools in the Wichita Public school system.

These new metal detectors will be located at the ramp entrance, main doors, tower entrance and the statue entrance. These medal detectors will be a big change for everyone but North High principal Stephanie Wasko would like everyone to know there might be hiccups for a while but this time of detector is not meant to set off the little things.

“The idea was brought up to me a week before all of the incidents happened and we discussed them at principles meetings and got a handful of papers explaining what they were about two weeks ago. So they had already decided they were going to bring up the system to the BOE,” she said.

Wasko continued to elaborate on how the detectors will work, “These detectors are not required to take anything out of pockets or take off backpacks. They are set to a certain sensitivity level  detect weapons, not only will they detect medal but they can also detect shapes. Kids will not have to take their bags off or take computers out, students will be able to walk through just like any other day.”

“The beauty of this in my opinion is its a deterrent, what its supposed to do is make students not want to bring it. They are going to get caught so if they know they have to walk through them and they don’t want to get caught then they just won’t bring anything in the first place.”

Mrs. Wasko is optimistic that these new medal detectors will make and change and is hoping to make school feel like a safer place.

As to when the metal detectors will arrive, Wasko said it will take some time.

“Six to eight weeks is what we were told for manufacturing from order and the order was approved Monday. These detectors are moveable and all we have to do just plug them in and no training required,” she said.