On September 5, 2024, at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, a student opened fire, causing 4 people to be killed and nine to be hospitalized. In 2023, the United States had 346 school shootings, a new record. Everyone knows that these events are continuing to happen which is why safety became an important topic to school districts, including the Salt Lake City School District.
In October 2023, Highland High school placed weapon detectors at the main entrances to the school. This year the weapons detectors are gone. But they are not really gone, they are still in the school because they have been paid off for three years.
The metal detectors are from the company Evolv. They have a 4-year lease agreement with the company Stone Security that costs $1.44 million. The security team being used was Pal America, which was a $1 million contract annually.
After using the detectors for a year, the Salt Lake School District Board of Education reached out to the principals of East High School, Highland High School, and West High School to decide if the detectors were worth the money and time spent on them.
They also surveyed teachers and community members to see how people felt about the detectors, but the results varied across the district. In the Highland community, people did not feel that the detectors were needed and were more of a hassle.
In the summer of 2024, Highland High School removed the metal detectors from the entrances where hundreds of students, parents, teachers and visitors walk through daily. The metal detectors were removed because they were thought to be ineffective and intimidating.
The detectors stood at every main entrance at the schools Highland High, East High, and West High, requiring every student or visitor to go through the detectors.
Occasionally, students would be required to get their bag checked. Often, it was their laptop that caught the detector’s attention; however, sometimes materials for an art class were found that might be dangerous to others if not used properly.
Heidi Mitchell, Sophomore at Highland shared her issues with the metal detectors.
“It got really annoying because I had to take my computer out daily,” Heidi said.
The metal detectors at Highland were not calibrated correctly. Students had to take their computers out almost every day because the detectors scanned them as weapons.
Students at Highland and members of the community were annoyed by this, but this was not the only reason. Jeremy Chatterton, principal of Highland High School, explained the negative response he got from the community after the detectors were installed.
“Our goals are always to foster a feeling of community and belonging within all the students and within the faculty,” Chatterton said. “Most people were frustrated by them (the detectors) in that they made it feel less welcoming.”
Highland High School is the only high school in the district who removed the detectors. West and East had a positive experience with the system and still use detectors to this day.
West and East had completely staffed security for the whole school year, whereas Highland’s staff was constantly changing, and they did not have enough guards trained correctly.
“I think for us we are also in a unique position in that the security people that we currently have [Jon Price and Michelle Bombard] really know what is going on in the building,” Chatterton said. “They kind of have a sense of everything that is happening in our building before it really happens, [they] know of the things they should be looking at. I don’t think the other two schools have that and so for them they were very reliant on the weapons detectors.”
Many people think the system could be useful at Highland too, if done correctly. Elizabeth Lambert, math teacher at Highland has a similar perspective.
“I think they were potentially effective because they have to go through the door and so I think a student would think twice before just walking through the doors with a weapon,” Lambert said.
Every student that entered through the main doors at Highland was required to walk through the detectors. This created awareness of what was being brought into the school.
Now that they are gone, some students show concern for safety. Makenna Morris, sophomore at Highland, noticed the pattern of school shootings across the country and became concerned.
“I feel a little freaked out and unsafe now that they are gone just because so much has happened,” Makenna said.
In the past 2 years, Highland High school has had 3 holds. These holds involved weapons located at the park or a situation in the school that needed to be addressed before students could leave their classes.
These scenarios have never been serious to the point of injuries, and the Highland security team knew about the weapons before somebody could get injured.
Michelle Bombard, member of the security team at Highland, believes that the detectors are unnecessary but having more security staff is.
“The relationships you make help keep you safe, when kids know things, kids sometimes share things,” Bombard said. “If there was more security to make those relationships, I think that would help our school.”
Highland High School no longer has funding for the detectors, and the machines will not be used for the next year. Bombard believes the best security in the school is the students in the building who know what is happening. She encourages them to communicate when there could be a problem.
“If you see something, say something,” Bombard said. “That is critical.”
