GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) -- A Guilford County teacher is pushing for metal detectors and other security measures on school campuses to keep students, staff and visitors safe.
"We've lost one student at Mount Tabor," said Michael Logan, a teacher at Southern Guilford High School. "What if someone went in and just really started shooting, at that point metal detectors are important."
One student died after a shooting at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem on Sept. 1. A string of lockdowns at other Triad school districts have followed.
"Nothing's going to really stop someone from wanting get into a school but a metal detector would stop someone walking in with the regular students walking in," he said.
Since Sept. 8 there have been four lockdowns:
- A threatening phone call was received at McMichael High School in Rockingham County on Sept. 8
- A student found with a toy pellet gun at Jamestown Middle School in Guilford County on Sept. 9
- Security alert at High Point Central High School in Guilford County on Sept. 10
- A gun was found on Parkland High School's campus in Forsyth County on Sept. 13.
Logan pushed school leaders to consider metal detectors and other safety measures during a GCS Board of Education meeting on Tuesday.
"We should research this," Logan said during public comments. "We should implement this at the school for our students, for their safety and their learning."
The 24-year classroom veteran called for more school resources officers to patrol campuses as lockdowns have become all too common.
Logan and other visitors to the meeting had to go through a metal detector and have their temperature checked to get into the building.
"We're concerned about the school board's safety," Logan said. "Why are we not as concerned about the students' safety,"
A GCS spokesperson told FOX8 a metal detector was installed after Superintendent Dr. Sharon Contreras and school board members received threats.
The spokesperson said a OneCard system, an identification card for students, is installed at more than 60 schools and on school buses.
Guilford County Sheriff's Office Captain Brian Hall told FOX8 there are safety plans in place for school resource officers.
"I think we spend more time thinking and planning and talking about the what ifs," Hall said. "I know every school in the county goes through a lengthy process of preparing emergency operation plans if the unthinkable were to happen."
Gov. Roy Cooper commented on the possibility of metal detectors in schools during a news conference following the Mount Tabor shooting.
"We need to make sure that we keep guns off of school grounds and we need to take steps to make sure that happens," Cooper said. "That is a pretty dramatic step to put metal detectors in schools but I think you cannot take it off the table. There may be particular schools and particular instances where you may want to do that."
Logan told FOX8 students need to be assured that schools are safe space away from violence on the streets.
"Last year there was a great deal of that, of young people being shot, stabbed, killed outside of the schools," he said. "A lot of it happened during the school day which meant if they were possibly in the schools it may have not happened."
0 Comments