Latest news with #OpenGate
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Yahoo
Fairfax County school community shares safety concerns after West Potomac High School stabbing
FALLS CHURCH, Va. () — Parents and students at a Fairfax County school board meeting Thursday said more needs to be done to keep schools safe after a teen was stabbed by another classmate at West Potomac High School in Belle Haven. Thursday was the first day , in place less than 24 hours after on Wednesday. Police: 2 officers shot during traffic stop in Fairfax County; suspect dead Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) parent Vanessa Hall said the news of the stabbing left her shaken up, and it compelled her to testify about school safety and the school system's budget on Thursday. 'I'm a parent who's actually had that call that something's happened to their child. I've had the worst call and had to suffer through that,' Hall said. 'It was dramatically horrible, terrible for all the parents standing outside.' Hall believes students are smart enough to circumvent those weapons detectors, and that a lot of the violence between students at school happens outside the building's walls. She and a student testified before the board Thursday in favor of finding new safety measures following the addition of new Open Gate weapons detectors at West Potomac and several other schools in Fairfax County. 'Students are panicking, afraid of being treated like a suspect for the crime of potentially being a victim of school violence. My peers and I don't believe the Open Gate system is capable of keeping our schools safe,' student Alexander Mather said. Fairfax County school board members call for increase in safety measures after stabbing at high school Pamela Revels is the president of the National Association of School Resource Officers. She said those systems can help, but they aren't a solution on their own. 'When you do add things like a weapons detection system, it is an enhanced feature, but you can't just rely on that alone to stop weapons,' Revels said. The board's student representative, Megan Sawant, said those detectors are an important step toward safety. 'This is the reality that we live in, and we always need to be prepared,' Sawant said. It's not clear how long the new weapons detectors are going to be in place at West Potomac High School. The program is still in its pilot phase. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Fairfax County school board members call for increase in safety measures after stabbing at high school
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. () — Fairfax County School Board members are calling for new security and safety measures after a 16-year-old student was stabbed at a high school Wednesday. In a statement from school board members, officials noted that the school division is 'one of the safest public school systems in the United States.' However, they added that unacceptable violence took place at West Potomac High School, and it is necessary to invest in new measures to ensure the safety and security of students. RELATED STORY | Police: 16-year-old seriously hurt in stabbing at West Potomac High School; teen charged On April 23, the undersigned School Board Members shined the light on the Fairfax County School Board of Supervisors to prioritize increasing the number of School Resource Officers (SROs) to match the national recommendation of a ratio of 1:1,0000 to students at middle and high schools, ensure one or more SROs are present every day and fully fund Middle School After-School programs. The Board Members also urged Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) to increase security assistants to 1 to 1,750 students at all middle and high schools to ensure appropriate enforcement of student discipline. In the statement, members said the school district should secure entry doors to prevent unauthorized access, install video cameras inside and outside every school in the district and construct security vestibules at every school. Members are also encouraging the installation of Open Gate weapons detection technology at every middle and high school. Fairfax County Public Schools to deploy 15 new detection scanners at high schools after spring break The stabbing comes weeks after the school district announced on April 10 that it would begin testing 15 weapons detection scanners at high schools. The pilot program involves the deployment of Open Gate devices at a randomly selected high school. Each week, at least one school will be chosen for several days. The program started on the week of April 21 School officials told DC News Now that Edison High School tested the detectors earlier this week. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Fairfax County Public Schools to deploy new detection scanners at 15 high schools after spring break
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. () — Some students in Fairfax County will return from spring break to new safety and security measures. This comes as the Fairfax County Public Schools () announced last week that it will kick off its Pilot Weapons Detection System in high schools starting on April 21. The pilot program involves deploying 15 scanners, also known as OpenGate devices, to a randomly selected high school or high schools. School officials said at least one school, each week, will be chosen by the Office of Safety and Security for screenings. After, the devices will remain at the school for one to several days. Youngkin declares Virginia Screen-Free Week The scanners will be provided by a company called CEIA and are designed to screen large numbers of people. The free-standing detectors are portable and can be used indoors or outdoors. The weapons detection scanners will be used when students arrive for class in the morning. A team of the FCPS's Office of Safety and Security and school-based security personnel will manage and monitor the entry process as students walk through the detectors. Before walking through, students must remove their laptops from their backpacks. School officials noted the devices are more sensitive than traditional metal detectors and can more accurately identify metal sources that may be potentially harmful. This includes knives, guns, and materials or components used to make explosive devices. The scanners may also alert for numerous items that are allowed in schools, including 3-ring binders, laptops, eyeglass cases, umbrellas, metal lunchboxes or pencil cases. 'It just felt like home': Sandy Spring Friends School to close after more than 60 years If the alarm sounds, students will step to the side for a secondary screening to determine the cause of the alert. According to FCPS, the purpose of the secondary screening is the determine the reason for the alarm. These screenings will be done by school security, administration or trained staff who have been designated to monitor these situations. If a weapon or illegal substance is discovered during the screenings, the police will take the prohibited items, and the student who brought the items onto campus might face charges. The pilot program will run through the end of the 2024-25 school year. The school district said it plans to expand the weapons detection program to the 2025-26 school year based on staffing needs and funding. For more information about the scanners, click . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School's CFO sets resignation date amid budget shortfall
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — The CFO of one of the largest school districts in the Piedmont Triad will resign in the coming months. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools confirmed that their chief financial officer, Tony Kranz, announced on Tuesday night that he would be resigning from the district effective June 30, 2025. WS/FCS announced last month that they were experiencing a multi-million dollar budget shortfall for the coming school year. Superintendent Tricia McManus sat down with FOX8 to discuss the financial situation, stating that the district is faced with dissolving vacant positions, demoting people or offering to reassign them. It will affect over 100 jobs. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools budget shortfall draws questions with few answers They were actively seeking someone to fill a director of finance role at the time of that interview. However, according to McManus, if positions are eliminated at the school level, that is not because of the budget. It's because of the state algorithm involving enrollment, which determines how many positions are funded. Going forward, the superintendent says that finances will be reviewed every two weeks by both the superintendent and the school board. 'The buck stops with me, and I take everything personally. I absorb everything, and I take it on my shoulders because I do believe … if something goes wrong anywhere, it is my responsibility,' McManus told FOX8. On Tuesday night, the district also announced they were accepting a grant to fund more weapons detection systems in schools across the district, to the tune of $175,000. This comes after multiple incidents in the district this school year, including a student being stabbed at Glenn High School on Monday. The funding will buy 9 OpenGate systems for middle schools, which district staff say work better than traditional metal detectors, which are often set off by ordinary school items like laptops or binders. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Yahoo
Colbert County Schools adds system to detect weapons on students
COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — Safety is every school system's top priority, but the Colbert County School District is taking an extra step to ensure no weapons enter their schools. The school system is adding a new weapons detection system called 'OpenGate'. Superintendent Nathan Fuller tells News 19 that the system will stand at the main entrances of each school. 'It's a place of community': Historic Tuscumbia shop rebuilds after tornado 'It's something the students just casually and normally walk through each morning as they enter the building, it has artificial intelligence that looks for weapons or things that may look like weapons,' Fuller said. Fuller tells News 19 that the detection system can spot or sense the shape of guns, knives and even bombs. Cherokee High School is the first school in the county to have an Opengate up and running, and students got to walk through it for the first time Tuesday morning. Cherokee High School Principal Roy Lawson said he is pleased to have the extra safety tool. 'It's really going to enhance the safety here at our school, we have a resource officer, he does a wonderful job but this just gives us another tool to help identify things that could possibly happen,' Lawson said. 18-year-old accused of threatening to shoot Florence High School Fuller says they have ordered 14 OpenGate systems for all eight schools in the county system, and the price tag is just under $500,000. He says they will do and spend however much for a safe learning environment for students and faculty. 'We want parents to feel safe sending their kids to us and we understand kids need to feel safe to be able to learn and grow,' Fuller said. The rest of the schools in the school system will be getting their OpenGate detection systems in the coming days after each student resource officer goes through training. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
