ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Arrests were made in Seminole, Orange, Volusia and Marion county this past week because of either students making threats to a school, or bringing a gun on campus.

After one arrest involved a Lake Brantley High School student, a Seminole County parent is trying to bring change to the school district.

What You Need To Know

  • Arrests were made in four different Central Florida counties last week from social media threats or guns found on campus

  • Lisa Clark, whose child goes to Lake Brantley High School, started an online petition calling for the implementation of metal detectors

  • The petition has garnered over 2,400 in recent days

  • Seminole County school district officials say they are not discussing the addition of metal detectors

Lisa Clark, whose child goes to Lake Brantley, started an online petition calling for the implementation of metal detectors.

“Something needs to be in place because when these children make threats, you shouldn’t take it lightly,” said Clark. “They will act out on a threat as we saw this week, when one day someone made a threat and the next day they brought a gun.”

The original goal was for the petition was 50 signatures, but it’s now up to over 2,400.

“I think that this is a start and ultimately the goal is to protect all schools,” Clark said. “With metal detectors, we have to start somewhere.”

Currently, the district says they have not had any discussions about adding metal detectors to schools.

On average, each one costs about $19,000 according to A3 Communications, which sells them to schools in the southeast. 

Andrea Cook, another parent who not only attended schools in Seminole County, has two of her own children enrolled in the district.  

She hopes more parents as well as county voters will come together to help find a solution to keeping students safe.

“We have 355,000 voters registered in Seminole County,” Cook said. “At this last election, the primary we only had about 16.9% voter turnout, which is horrible. These are the people that are on our school board, and other community members that are impactful in getting things done.”

While Cook admits she’s not certain metal detectors are the right solution, she acknowledges conversations to ramp up school security needs to start happening.

“We have to get the word out there, because I pretty much guarantee there isn’t one parent that doesn’t want to see our safety improve,” Cook said.

Seminole County school district officials say they are asking parents to partner with them and speak with their children about the serious nature of making threats. 

They also add that this behavior carries heavy consequences that can change lives in ways students may not comprehend.