PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) - Many high schools in Broward County will be using a brand-new tool to detect danger when classes resume on Monday, and officials are advising students and their parents to pack their patience.
Broward County Public Schools officials on Wednesday held held a show-and-tell demonstration of its new metal detectors at South Plantation High School.
The new safety measure will be the new normal on BCPS campuses, as high school students will now have to go through them before heading to their first class.
James LaRosa with Broward Schools Safety & Security hosted Wednesday’s dress-rehearsal simulation.
“When you arrive, you’re going to hand these items to a security staff member who is manning this station,” he said.
Another staff member listed some of the items that will cause the metal detectors to go off.
“Glasses case, umbrellas, binders. Take them out, thank you,” she said.
Also on hand was BCPS Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn.
“Number one, the electronic device — could be a laptop, could be an iPad or something similar — this would definitely set it off,” he said.
Items with lower metal density, such as iPhones, keys and belt buckles, for the most part, will not set off the alarm, but depending on the phone or case, it just might.
“All right, see what happened there?” said the security staff member when a bag set off the detector. “I will check her bag, and [the student] would have to walk through it again.”
“She’s going to leave her bag and go back through the system,” said LaRosa. “While that’s happening, my security staff is taking a look in the bag, and here, we found the issue.”
In this case, it was an eyeglass case that set off the alarm.
“Eyeglass cases, people don’t realize that the eyeglass cases, especially the ones that snap closed, they’re actually made out of metal,” said Hepburn.
But that’s not all. The student’s cellphone, which she had put in her back pocket, also set off the alarm.
LaRosa said binders will also set off the detectors.
“The spine [in the] three-ring binder will [trigger the] alert, umbrella,” he said.
Some schools will have a single point of entry with several metal detectors. Other schools, depending on population, could have different entrances, all equipped with the new security measures.
School officials said there will be delays for the first few weeks.
“We also need the help from parents. Parents, I’m a parent, too. Sometimes, you’ve got to go through that backpack, just to make sure your kids are not bringing things to school that they should not have in their possession,” said Hepburn. “They need to be prepared to learn. Leave all the rest of the stuff home.”
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.