Ensuring Safety: Jackson School District to purchase new weapon detection technology for indoor events

The Jackson School District Board of Education approved the purchase of two weapon detection systems for use at district-hosted public events.

The board approved the spending of $42,768 for the two OpenGate Weapon Detection Systems. Jackson superintendent Scott Smith said safety is the district’s top priority and the administrative staff and school board are always “looking at ways of how we can ensure that we've done all we can for a safe environment.”

"Dr. (Keenan) Kinder, his team and I have looked at different options to try to evaluate and, during that process, we came up with this weapon detection system that we liked, and we’re going to start piloting and looking at some of our larger indoor events,” Smith said.

The decision to purchase the detectors comes two months after two people were injured when 20-year-old Kris Owens fired a gunshot during Cape Central High School's graduation ceremony at the Show Me Center.

The district plans to use the new detectors for its indoor events, such as basketball games, volleyball games and concerts. Outdoor events such as football games will not utilize the system for now, but Smith said there have been discussions about expanding its use.

"(Using detectors at football games) is in a phase that we’ll probably be looking at. Right now, we're looking at more of the indoor facilities because of just how we set them up,” Smith said. “That is in our long-term future plans as we move forward. We feel like that’s probably something we're going to do. The board voted last month to purchase two of these, so we want to be able to use them where we have larger indoor crowds.”

Currently, the district doesn't plan to use the new detectors at entrances on school days, as Smith said he believes the current security procedures employed at the school are sufficient.

“We want to make sure that the learning environment is one where students feel safe but also conducive to learning,” Smith said.

According to the CEIA USA website, OpenGate’s walk-through detectors are “ultra-high-throughput weapon detector(s) for inspecting people with bags, backpacks and luggage.” The company touts the detectors' ability to reveal multi-caliber weapons, portability, easy installation and indoor and outdoor functionality.

The OpenGate detectors utilize an app, which allows the user to set the level of detection they want. While the equipment can be used as a standard metal detector, Jackson’s assistant superintendent of safety and district operations Keenan Kinder said the product's sensors specifically look for hardened steel when it’s in weapon-detection mode.

“If somebody were to take apart a pistol and it had polymer handles, the barrel would actually be what sets it off,” Kinder said. “You can dial the setting down to where it will pick up stainless steel or any kind of metal. Even a very small amount of metal will set it off. But if you want to get a lot of people scanned in an amount of time, you can set it to where it’s looking for just weapons and that hardened steel.”

Kinder, athletic director John Martin and Smith attended a demonstration of the OpenGate detectors at the Show Me Center, which ultimately led them to recommend the purchase to the school board.

“We discussed this with the board and, ultimately, the board felt very strongly that we want to make sure we continue to provide a safe learning environment,” Smith said. “Although we have not had any issues up to date, we just want to be proactive and provide that for our students, staff and community.”