High schools may get body scanners
May 28—GUILFORD COUNTY — Guilford County Schools officials are considering installing body-scanning security devices at all high schools in the district.
In a request for proposals posted last month, the school system said it wanted to buy or lease a system capable of "high visitor screening rates" that would not require anyone to unpack backpacks or purses and that could distinguish such things as guns, knives and pipes from everyday items such as keys and cellphones.
Similar body scanners are in use in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which began installing them in March in response to a record high in gun seizures on its school campuses. One of the scanners detected a gun in early May on just its second day of use.
The Guilford school system posting said officials expect to install the scanners at the 19 traditional high schools and academies, and if they are successful then additional scanners could be installed at the 23 middle schools.
The posting said the anticipated two-year contract would begin June 1, which is this coming Wednesday, but Guilford County Schools Chief of Staff Rebecca Kaye said Friday that will not be possible.
"The review of proposals is still in progress ..., and it is not appropriate for us to comment further on an open procurement process. We will hold a public discussion, however, before purchasing safety equipment," she said in an email.
The Guilford County Board of Education is scheduled to meet Tuesday evening to discuss school system facilities, but the body scanners proposal is not on the agenda for the meeting.
A 19-year-old student at High Point Central High School was arrested May 16 after a school resource officer reviewing surveillance video saw him take what appeared to be a gun out of his book bag and conceal it under a coat, police said.
In December, the High Point Police Department said there had been an average of two fights a week at High Point Central, and they had led to 30 students being charged with fighting on campus.
The pace of fighting has slowed since then, with a total of about 30 so far since Aug. 23, police said Friday. None involved weapons.
High Point police also have expressed concerns about the growth throughout the city of crimes involving juveniles and guns, which they said in November had increased 28% over five years. There were 84 gun crimes in High Point in 2021 in which someone under 18 was determined to be the offender, and the large majority were of high school age, police said Friday.
