Wake schools don’t use metal detectors. Could that change after fatal stabbing?
The fatal stabbing of a student Monday at Southeast Raleigh High School comes amid concerns about rising crime rates at schools and whether security measures such as metal detectors are needed.
A state report released in March showed that reported crimes in North Carolina public schools were up 16.9% in the 2021-22 school year compared to pre-pandemic levels. Last school year’s figures haven’t been released yet.
State leaders have blamed the increase on how many students who were in remote learning during the pandemic have struggled to readjust to school culture and expectations. This has resulted in more misbehavior and violations of school rules and laws statewide and nationally, school officials say.
Wake doesn’t use metal detectors
The Southeast Raleigh High death comes as the Wake County school board’s safety and security committee will hold a previously scheduled meeting on Tuesday.
The agenda for the meeting includes whether to require spectators at Wake school athletic events to bring clear bags to try to deter weapons being brought in.
The committee will also discuss potential changes to the agreement with municipal law enforcement agencies on how school resource officers will work in schools.
One thing Wake has not done is put metal detectors or other weapons detectors on school campuses. Metal detectors are sometimes used at school athletic events.
A security consultant hired by Wake did not recommend weapons detectors.
Instead, the School Safety Advisory Council recommended steps such as a new visitor management check-in system that was installed in all schools this fall.
In a joint message Monday, new Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor and school board chair Lindsay Mahaffey tried to reassure worried parents. They said that the district is doing work behind-the-scenes to keep students safe such as security infrastructure and technology improvements.
“The unseen part is intentional, as revealing specific details of security plans can create additional risks,” Mahaffey and Taylor said. “But we want to assure you that our board has approved funding for these critical security improvements, and they will move forward.”
But they also said the district will continue to review all safety processes and protocols to determine what happened and what changes may need to be made.
Next door in Johnston County, every school’s main entrance has a detector that scans people who walk through it with ultra-low-frequency electromagnetic fields to look for concealed weapons.
Portable detection systems are placed, as needed, at secondary entrances at Johnston County schools, too.
This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 5:07 PM.
