VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Volusia County school board members hosted a workshop to discuss implementing random screenings on school campuses.

According to district officials, there were 82 weapon incidents last school year. They hope these metal detectors used for random screenings will serve as a deterrent, discouraging students from bringing weapons on campus.

The school board had discussed this policy change back in January but did not vote on it and tabled the item for a later time. On Tuesday, board members listened to a presentation by Director of Safety and Security Captain Todd Smith, Chief Operating Officer Patty Corr, General Counsel Kevin W. Pendley and Deputy Superintendent Rachel Hazel about some changes made to the wording of the policy regarding the screenings.

Related Story: Volusia County School Board proposes updates to safety protocols to include random searches without cause

Smith started the presentation explaining the need to have this discussion citing multiple weapons being found in schools, an incident in Sept. 2023 where a student was stabbed in the face in Volusia County and multiple school massacres across the country, leading to increase school security.

The policy would apply to both elementary and secondary levels. The proposed language of the Search Provisions within Policy (208 S) and (208 E) of the Code of Student Conduct and Discipline reads:

“All visitors to Volusia County Schools sites or events are on notice that searches may be conducted at random and without cause by the site administrator. Furthermore, the use of an electronic device may be utilized to assist with the search.”

During the workshop, board members had the opportunity to ask questions. It was only a discussion, and they did not vote on this item, but they explained how the screenings will be taking place and the procedures they will follow to ensure safety.

The presentation stated that the screenings will be random, and no specific group will be targeted. They will use a randomizer tool that follows a computer algorithm programmed to generate random responses. When a classroom is selected, the district team will be deployed to the school to conduct the random screening. Once they get there, they will work with the school administration to bring the metal detector to the selected classroom and will organize and run the screening. Under adult supervision, the students will walk through the new open gate metal detectors with their backpacks on.

“For me, what changed a lot of this discussion is the technology we are looking at employing, which is truly minimally invasive and really won’t cause a physical search until there is probable cause or reasons,” School Board Member Ruben Colón said.

Smith said there will be a minimal loss of instructional time and the screenings will be done either at the beginning or at the end of the class period.

“You would have that outside those doors and the students would walk through them as they enter the room or when class was over, they walk through them as they left,” School Board Member Carl Persis said.

This technology has already been implemented at sporting events. School Board Member Jamie Haynes said she hopes in the future this is just an everyday occurrence.

“I don’t want a single child to ever lose their life on one of our campuses, so you have my support, but I still suggest that we can take it a step further and start screening everybody that walks in,” Haynes said.

President of Volusia United Educators (VUE) Elizabeth Albert says she has concerns about the randomized screenings and believes the district should place the devices in all the schools.

“I’m very interested to see how the logistics of all of this will work. I still believe it is not the correct step at this time.” Albert said. “I think if we’re going to do this, we need to do it right and we need to do it right from the start, which would be to make an investment in these devices and put them at all entry and exit points, and that’s where we need to have the children come through.”

Smith said they reached to school districts across the state asking if they were using a similar random metal detector process. He said at least 14 school districts have similar measures in place, including Bay, Brevard, Broward, Escambia, Hendry, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Leon, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.

At the end of the workshop, all board members expressed their unanimous support for the random screenings.

The next step in the process would be for the school district to advertise these random screenings and put it on the agenda to come back for school members to vote on it.