Students at Alexandria’s West Potomac High School will now need to step through weapons scanners as they enter the building. The move comes a week after police arrested a 15-year-old West Potomac male student in a stabbing incident at the school.
FCPS Weapons Scanner Program
Fairfax County Public Schools recently rolled out a new pilot project implementing weapons detectors at random high schools. The devices are similar to metal detectors but are more sensitive. They are more likely to alert security to a possible weapon, but less likely to cause false alarms, FCPS said.
West Potomac was not chosen as a test location, so the machines were not at the school on April 23 when the stabbing took place. Scanners were placed on the campus following the stabbing, however, they were removed after one day, WUSA9 reported.
Permanent Placement
In an April 30 email obtained by WUSA9, principal Jennifer Statz said the high school had been approved to move to the next phase of the pilot program, which is permanent placement. Statz said the weapon detectors will be permanent starting Thursday.
Students will be required to remove certain items from their bags before walking through the scanners. These include three-ring binders, laptops, umbrellas, and metal lunch boxes, pencil cases, and eyeglass cases.
Statz said students should walk to the shortest line and proceed through once the items are removed from their bags. If the light on the scanner turns red, they will be directed to a secondary screening area.
“Our experiences will help FCPS understand how we can best staff and sustain this additional layer of security across high schools moving forward,” Statz’s email said. “We expect the process to be easier every day.”
The scanners will also become permanent at Thomas Edison High School in Alexandria, ABC 7News reported.
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