Schenectady BOE approve weapons detection measures

CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- After weeks of public comment, the Schenectady Board of Education approved a resolution to provide weapon detection measures for the district's schools. NEWS10 spoke with a Capital Region School District already implementing enhanced safety measures to find out how things are going.

“I think it's evident that we're not going to be able to make everybody happy in a situation, and we all can agree on that,” said Schenectady City School District Board of Education Member, Alexandria Carver.

In a six to one vote the board of education in Schenectady is ready to move forward with weapons detection and enhanced safety measures throughout the district. There have been multiple fights this school year, two injured students had to be treated at the hospital after one incident.

“It's a little bit ridiculous at this point. There shouldn't have been so many incidents happening every year and it escalates more and more,” said Claire Morales.

Jeff Russo District Director of School Climate and Safety in Schenectady explains some of the differences in the systems they are considering. Some are standard metal detectors, and some are using air in a new way to detect metal weapons. “We all know what a metal detector looks like, what it feels like. And there is a lot of hands on. It's very slow. So that is the lowest level technology. But then, as you can see, the range really goes from about $350,000. This is over four years up to about $1,000,000,” said Russo.

In Amsterdam the school district there no stranger to metal detectors. “We had an event last year that brought weapons into the school that had everybody concerned,” said Greater Amsterdam School District Superintendent Richard Ruberti.

The superintendent says the school district used to check every fourth or fifth student but now they implemented a new system called Evovl Express. “A more advanced type of metal detection system that has an AI capability that's looking for objects and certain things that it learns over time. But it's more efficient for us. It's getting kids in and we're still as safe as we ever were, probably more than we had been.” Ruberti says the system cost the district about $70,000.

Amsterdam school officials say the community and students have provided positive feedback. “I think we've hit that balance, and we'll continue to do that. But it's going to be different for every school district for Amsterdam at the time and going forward, and I absolutely think it's the right decision,” said Ruberti.

The district's safety consultant echoed Ruberti's sentiments. “To any school district that is questioning whether or not they should do this. This is my opinion, it’s a no-brainer for a system. Because you can't put a money tag on kids and staff safety,” said Kenneth Cooper of Altaris Consulting group.