Wake school leaders not considering metal detectors despite rise in threats toward campuses

By Joe Fisher

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    CARY, North Carolina (WRAL) — Wake County school leaders talked about safety for the second time in February on Tuesday, hours after another threat was made against a school.

The meeting happened as parents continue to express concerns about threats and several guns found at schools, a phenomenon that’s become all too common in the Triangle and beyond in recent weeks. Lockdowns and added security at schools have become more frequent.

The district has come up with five recommendations for “physical safety” upgrades in their schools. Due to security concerns, the district is keeping its recommendations private, but a senior director of security confirmed that metal detectors and weapon detectors are not being considered.

The discussion comes as five guns have been found at five different schools in the last four months in Wake County.

There have been three guns found in February alone. On Tuesday, River Bend Middle School officials learned of a “hoax threat” made toward the school. Administrators found the student responsible promptly and did not place the school on lockdown and no weapon was ever recovered.

The closed session took place following the board’s first Safety and Security Committee meeting since 2021. The committee was formed in 2020 to address the district’s school resource officer program, which was revised to include new training requirements and guidance in 2021. The meeting has been planned for some weeks to introduce the board’s five new members on SRO training and the district’s ongoing security audit.

At the same time, Wake County — along with other school systems, charter schools and private schools — has recently experienced lockdowns related to unsubstantiated threats or to reports of weapons found on campuses. A gun was fired in a classroom in Fuquay-Varina in December, but weapons have otherwise not resulted in injuries and guns have otherwise not been fired. It’s unclear whether other students found with weapons on campus intended to use them on campus.

The incidents have coincided with a rise in gun violence in North Carolina and beyond, including an increase in child gun deaths in 2022, compared to 2021. After medical issues, children die by guns more than by any other means, according to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force. Those deaths nearly always occur off of school campuses. Gun deaths at school are extremely rare.

Wake County school board members, at board meetings, have continuously encouraged parents to follow safe gun storage practices at home and to talk to their children about the consequences of making threats to schools, even if they are not serious threats.

“it’s very important that all gun owners make sure that they secure their firearms properly,” district senior director of security Russ Smith said Tuesday. “That would stop a lot of what’s going on out there.”

Smith said metal detectors are “always on the table,” but added the school system is weighing five physical security upgrades to recommend to the school board and metal detectors didn’t make the cut. The superintendent pointed out that there was no funding allocated for that type of measure at this point.

On Tuesday, the district’s Safety and Security Committee met and furthered talks about implementing new safety measures for schools.

Just last Thursday, we told you about a juvenile who managed to get a loaded AR-15 inside a basketball game at Millbrook High School.

There’s also been guns found at Wendell Middle School and Rolesville High School.

Guns have actually been fired inside Cary High School in October.

And there’s Fuquay-Varina Middle School, where a 12-year-old fired a single shot into a window back in December.

Elsewhere, STAR Academy in Lillington was placed on a Code Red lockdown Monday following a report of a weapon on campus.

Starting next school year, visitors to every school in Wake County will be screened more intensely.

A new, nearly $1 million system will identify sex offenders, people with protective orders and those with child custody restrictions.

Visitor management is one seven focus areas for Wake schools as they work to increase security. The district is also exploring solutions to social media threats, fine-tuning its reunification plan and increasing security at sporting events.

School board member Dr. Wing Ng shared his thoughts about installing weapons detection systems in schools.

“That is a technology that’s only one piece of the puzzle,” said Dr. Ng. “I don’t know for sure whether it would work or not, knowing the fact that there’s more than one point of entry in a lot of locations.”

Security experts interviewed by WRAL News say several measures can help prevent school shootings:

Anonymous tip lines, which most North Carolina school systems already operate, can help students feel more comfortable reporting warning signs or threats. Those systems need to be backed up by teams of staff ready to respond to those reports.

Training, particularly for staff, on recognizing warning signs.

Doors that can be locked from the inside. Preventing and curbing bullying by fostering better relationships between students and improving the mood at school. Parents practicing safe gun storage at home, keeping guns out of their children’s hands. Minimizing publicity of unsubstantiated threats and of shooters’ names to prevent copycat threats or shooters. Both often occur in clusters. Mass shooters almost always display signs of concerning behavior or communicate plans to someone, so recognizing the signs is critical to stopping the shooters, experts say.

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