STARKVILLE — In nearly five months, there have been 21 school shootings this year that have resulted in injury or death, Education Week reports.
In a move to make schools in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District safer, Superintendent Tony McGee is looking for technology that would help stop threats before they become deadly.
McGee heard about Entry Shield, an access control technology and systems company, through a superintendent’s networking group and brought it forward to the district’s board for consideration.
The system is similar to a metal detector, but instead of flagging laptops and other day-to-day items like keys and cell phones, the system can detect “weapons of mass casualty,” Entry Shield Security Chief Revenue Officer Phillip Gomez told the school board in a presentation via Zoom on Tuesday at the Greensboro Center.
“We have a patented application and screen and flow process that allows hundreds, thousands of students to flow through our weapons detection system so they’re not missing class time trying to get in the building,” Gomez said. “There is no keeping them in line and stopping them. It is a true screen and flow process. … What we’re looking for is weapons of mass casualty – ARs, pipe bombs, pressure-gripper bombs, things like that that can do serious damage to many.”
Students will pass through the system, and if they are carrying something it is set to detect, the system will send a notification to the cell phones of administrators and other designees to receive them. Those notifications will include a high-resolution photo of the student in question, and district personnel can respond or call for backup through the app.
The point of notifying certain people such as administrators, school resource officers and other designated employees through a phone app rather than over the intercom system is to discreetly alert to a potential threat without causing mass panic, Gomez said.
In Gomez’s presentation, he demonstrated walking through one of the Entry Shield detectors with a stock for a broken down AR, an AR barrel and three fully-loaded magazines in a bag. He then showed what messages came through on an approved phone and what those notifications would look like.
Administrators have the option to turn up the sensitivity of the system on certain days.
Though no school in Mississippi uses the technology, McGee told the SOCSD board members on Tuesday night some schools in Alabama use it.
“Several schools across the state use a metal detection system,” McGee told The Dispatch in an email. “This company is new to the market in Mississippi. … We are always looking for ways to increase safety for our students and staff.”
Each system costs $35,000, and McGee said district administrators are looking at a grant to cover the cost. McGee said this is a professional service, and the district would have to seek two quotes unless the total runs over $50,000.
The board took no action Tuesday.
“(There is a Community Oriented Policing Services) grant offered by the Department of Justice, and we are in the early phase of looking at it,” McGee said. “The grant applications will not open up until the fall. … We are looking at a couple vendors for similar products and hope to make a decision about moving forward once we have more information.”
McGee said phase one of the program would include a system at Armstrong Junior High and Starkville High. The systems include the detector at primary entrances and alerts for any time a secondary entrance is opened with a camera facing that entrance.
“I think it gives our students and staff another layer of confidence that we are working to keep everyone safe,” McGee said. “Systems like this are fairly common in today’s world. … It allows more students and staff to be screened in a non-intrusive manner.”
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