The halls of Palm Beach County high schools are becoming a checkpoint for safety as metal detectors become a part of the daily routine. Boynton Beach Community High School is the most recent to adopt the measure, with students lining up for a scan before hitting the books. "At first, many people didn't want it. They thought it was going to take too much time. But it wasn't; it actually was very smooth," reported WPBF quoting Christopher Morinvil, a senior at the school.
Students now must part with their cellphones, keys, and the like before stepping through the metal gates—a practice ushered in by the need to thwart potential threats. Boynton Beach High isn't alone; the county plans to have 75 metal detectors across all 24 high schools by year's end, a measure of response not so much to history as to the obligation of security in the present tense. According to WPTV, Dr. Moody Fuller, principal of Boynton Beach Community High School, took inspiration from pilot programs in the district, "I sent administrators out to the schools to see how they were functioning. And that's really what helped us get off to a running start," Fuller told the station.
The adoption of metal detectors hasn't come without its trials. Chief Sarah Mooney of the School District of Palm Beach County's Police Department mentioned to WPTV the challenges of adjusting to the system, "Training the kids to know how to go through the detectors, making sure we have staffing in place, making sure we have time to get everybody trained up the way they need to be," she said. However, Mooney reiterated that while the detectors are a significant element of the school's safety approach, the vital component remains the human factor.
For students like Stephania Emmanuel, this protocol undeniably casts a "sense of calm" as reported by WPBF. "For what's been going around in other states and stuff, I feel like it makes the school environment safer," Emmanuel said. And, with half of the district's high schools expected to be equipped with metal detectors by next week, the sentiment of safety is one set to spread widely across Palm Beach County's educational landscape.
