Are metal detectors needed at schools?

School board members are looking into the possibility of using metal detectors to screen students for weapons at the parish’s three high schools.
The issue was discussed during last Wednesday’s monthly meeting but taken under advisement for the time being.
Parish deputies arrested a 16-year-old male student on Aug. 21 after the BBHS school resource officer found the boy with a hand gun in a classroom. It was later determined that the pistol had been reported stolen in Lafayette Parish.
The youth faces multiple charges.
Superintendent Dr. Lottie Beebe told board members that “We need to find a way to assure parents that we are taking steps to protect their children.”
Cost estimates for two standard walk-through models and a third able to accommodate wheelchair-bound students for each of the three schools run in the neighborhood of $50,000.
Hand-held wand detectors would cost around $200 each.
Anthony Polotzolo, supervisor of organizational structures for the board, pointed out the logistical challenge of getting as many as 800 students through the detectors at the start of school each day, but Dr. Beebe stressed the need for the board to take steps to counter the threat of guns being brought into schools.

In other business during last week’s meeting, the board heard presentations from St. Martin Parish Council on Aging Executive Director Shanese Lewis regarding the COA’s proposed millage tax which will appear on the Oct. 14 special election ballot and from representatives of the LSU AgCenter’s local county agents office on their operations.