Hinsdale South Gun Screening No Longer Daily

DARIEN, IL – Hinsdale South High School is no longer conducting daily weapons screening. Now, the checks are random.

After a student was found with a loaded gun in late November, the school deployed its weapons detection system every day. Parents at a public meeting encouraged this.

This semester, though, Hinsdale High School District 86 decided to conduct "unannounced" and "intermittent" weapons screening at both South and Hinsdale Central.

Such a practice was recommended in a security audit by the DuPage Regional Office of Education, Superintendent Michael Lach said in a message to parents this week.

"Intermittent use of the Weapons Detection System has been described to us as 'best practice,'" Lach said. "Research shows people are more likely to 'beat a system' they deal with as part of a daily routine, as opposed to a system that has the potential to be in place any day and appears unannounced intermittently."

According to a district memo, the systems will be deployed about 15 times this semester. But the actual number will be kept under wraps, so the district can surprise students, Lach said at a committee meeting Tuesday.

"The idea here is that we want this to be a deterrent, so people think twice or three times before they even dream of bringing a weapon on campus," Lach said.

The district plans to look for 20 employees who would manage the security lines from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. on the days of security checks. Each employee would get a $45 stipend for each session.

The employees would manage the flow of students, while security officers would still check bags, Lach said.

At the human resources committee meeting, Lach said the district was "cautiously optimistic" it could find interested employees. If it is unsuccessful, it may have to recruit residents, but that would involve considerably more training, he said.

"So we're hoping we can do this internally first and quickly," he said.