The Chesterfield County School Board voted unanimously this week to install metal detectors in all 28 of its middle and high schools starting next school year. It will cost an estimated $2.8 million to implement.
According to Chief Operations Officer Josh Davis, barriers will also need to be put in place to ensure that students cannot access “megatrailers” at several county public schools without going through their main entrances first.
Parents of Chesterfield students have voiced concerns about safety for several months.
Kara Abbott, who has a child at Manchester Middle School, stood before the board before the vote to tell the members: “My child still has anxiety going to school,” she said, adding her daughter will attend high school next year. “Until things change in this country as a whole, I think this is the proper next step.”
The vote also follows a pilot project in January, where for two days students at Robious Middle School and Meadowbrook High School had to pass through metal detectors to get to class.
Meadowbrook temporarily closed after a stabbing there in October, and that same month police arrested a Thomas Dale High School student on outstanding felony warrants who was found to have brought a knife to campus.
“This was something that was already in the making prior to some unfortunate incidents that occurred this school year,” said Steve Paranto, who represents the Matoaca District. “This is the world we live in.”
Chesterfield County Public Schools joins Richmond, Henrico and Hopewell in using metal detectors at school entrances.
