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NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia – As the kids stayed home and virtually learned during the pandemic, school shootings were an issue we didn’t have to deal with.
But with only a few weeks in the school year, a shooting at Heritage High School brings the problem back to the headlines.
News 3 met with Newport News School Board Chairman Douglas Brown.
He said: “We will review all of our security measures, our protocols and see if there is room for improvement.”
He said the school district uses metal detectors for random searches and major events. He said they worked with the police, received counseling from students and worked to prevent violence.
“When we do throwing weapons and other paraphernalia and things of that nature, we usually do that to all the students, so it’s not discriminatory in nature. This is a practice that we have had in place for a number of years and that makes students in the community feel safer, ”said Brown.
Some parents would like to see more metal detectors inside schools.
Browns personally says he went to a school with metal detectors and he doesn’t like them.
“Our schools are schools, and they are not prisons. This is not the airport. Schools are a resource for the community. We use metal detectors, but we don’t use them every day to make the kids feel like a prison yard, ”Brown said.
Brown said the SRO officer was at the scene when the Heritage High shooting occurred and said their presence helped execute the law enforcement swift response.
He says they added additional mental health resources not only after the shooting, but also in recent years in the neighborhood.
Brown added that he was happy the injured students were recovering and praised the swift actions of the students and staff. He said he was very happy that no one was killed.
The Newport News school board meets at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and a special meeting is also scheduled for October 5.
News 3 has contacted Hampton Roads school districts for their policies on metal detectors and other methods of security enforcement. You can find their answers below.
Portsmouth Public Schools
“We have metal detectors in all of our high schools (middle and high schools). All high schools have four metal detectors. In Churchland Middle there are five metal detectors; at Cradock Middle there are three; and at Waters Middle there are two (the allocation of metal detectors is not based on student enrollment, but rather on the layout of the building and the number of entry points)… .. the decision to have metal detectors in our schools predates our current administration. However, following the Columbine shooting in 1999, there was a documented increase in public demand for schools to have metal detectors and therefore they became part of many school division security operations.
We also have School Resource Officers in all of our high schools through our ongoing partnership with the Portsmouth Police Department and the Portsmouth Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, all schools, including elementary, have school safety officers who are hired and trained by the school division.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) said they have middle and high school metal detectors with portable chopsticks. They are used for large community events, such as football games. District says it also has school resource officers (SROs)
Suffolk Public Schools
Suffolk Public Schools have said that metal detectors are currently only used after school at certain sporting events, such as basketball, football, etc. However, they said that they held scheduled wand exercises with the students. They said they currently have 8 ORS that have designated coverage on their assigned elementary, middle and high schools.
Hampton Town Schools
“Hampton City Schools has metal detectors in our high schools which are primarily used at sporting events and special events. All of our schools (ie. The number and location of metal detection gates and portable detectors are not disclosed as this could compromise our security.
In addition to metal detectors, please see specific safety measures below that Hampton City schools use. Detailed information regarding these security measures (eg, number, location, frequency of use) is not provided in order to protect the safety and security of our students and staff.
- HCS uses Raptor visitor management technologies to register all guests
- HCS emergency response plans
- Each school has an HCS Emergency / Safety Response Team
- School Threat Assessment Teams
- Emergency crisis codes
- Evacuation and containment exercises
- Aiphone access control system (ringing system at all front doors – audio and visual)
- Camera system (internal and external)
- Radio system in all our schools
- Panic button system
- Police canine dog dedicated to HCS via the SRO program – to perform random drug searches
- Police Dogs via HPD – to perform random searches of firearms
- School Safety Officers (SSO) – HCS Employees
- School Resource Officers (SROs) – Hampton Police Division – SROs are assigned full time to all of our middle and high schools during the school year and support neighboring HCS elementary schools
- School safety audits and school inspections
- ALICE training provided to all staff in our schools (around 2,000 employees) during the 2019-2020 school year. New recruits will participate in this training this school year.
- Safe School hotline and counseling text line 757-504-0921 “
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