Weapons Screening Program Approved By Alexandria School Board

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A pilot program to screen for weapons with metal detector technology was approved by the Alexandria City School Board Thursday.

The pilot program will run at Alexandria City Public Schools' middle and high school campuses — Alexandria City High School's King Street and Minnie Howard campuses, George Washington Middle School and Francis C. Hammond Middle School.

Alicia Hart, the ACPS chief of facilities and operations, said ACPS will procure the equipment in the coming days and have installation by late April or early May. The launch of the pilot program is expected in May after equipment installation and training for relevant staff. The equipment is expected to be in place in May, June and the summer school term.

The approval came after a majority in a public survey with 4,374 responses supported weapons screening in schools.

"As it relates to the question of do you support the use of weapons screening equipment within ACPs schools, 85 percent of respondents support it used in all or some of our schools, whereas 58 percent of respondents supported the use of weapons screening equipment in all schools," said Hart. "Fifteen percent of respondents did not support the use of weapons screening equipment within schools."

School Board member Abdel-Rahman Elnoubi shared that the program was "not an easy decision" for ACPS leaders to bring forward. He acknowledged there were differing opinions but addressed the concern of cost survey respondents opposed to the program shared.

"One thing that stood out to me was the cost that people thought it's a concern," said Elnoubi. "I had to address this because I mean we can't...put a price on the safety of our students and their well being."

School Board representative Willie Bailey agreed that there shouldn't be a price put on student safety. He cited the recent incident of a teacher reporting that a student had a gun at the high school's Minnie Howard Campus. The 14-year-old was charged with gun possession on school property, according to the Washington Post.

"Suppose that would have went the other way around and something happened in that school," said Bailey. "The city would have been looking at us saying what did we do about it?...And we're gonna sit here and we're gonna talk about the cost and the aesthetics what it looks like...So it really eats at me to even have that conversation."

School Board representative Ashley Simpson Baird pressed for ways to make entryways more welcoming for student, as some opposed survey respondents shared the concern of weapons screening hurts schools' welcoming feeling.

Hart said the goal is to place the equipment so it provides little disruption to the current screening process at schools. Site visits to each school have been completed to determine the best placement of the equipment. One vendor ACPS is exploring can also add school logos and mascots to the equipment.

The ACPS communications office will be communicating updates to stakeholder groups, including students, staff and families.

"We understand that there may be hesitancy with some stakeholders regarding the implementation of such equipment and we want to make every effort to address questions and concerns in advance of implementation," said Hart. "I want to reiterate that the goal of this program is to act as a deterrent for weapons entering our facilities. It is not and will not become the sole process in our overall safety and security posture."

The estimated cost of the equipment would be $60,000 for each affixed system unit and $13,000 for a mobile unit.

If the pilot program runs as anticipated in May and June, Hart hopes to bring back data to the School Board early next school year to determine next steps.