The Volusia County School District is piloting new screening technology that could quickly detect whether a student has a gun or other weapon as they enter campus.
The Evolv Weapon Detection System uses AI to quickly scan students’ backpacks, bags, and purses for weapons.
Volusia Superintendent Carmen Balgobin was at the rollout of the tech at Atlantic High School near Daytona Beach on Tuesday.
“You know, when it comes to our students here in Volusia County, all 64,000 of them, safety is our number one priority, as you know,” said Balgobin.
The technology works like screenings at an airport, theme park, or sports stadium. Students put their bags on a scanner, and walk through. If they ping the system, they’re pulled aside for a body or bag check.
Unlike TSA screening, students can keep their cellphones in their hands or pockets.
Mike Micallef is Executive Director of Graduation Assurance and Student Services for the district. In this role, he thinks a lot about student safety.
“What we wanted to do is look at something that was less intrusive for students, but also that was efficient and effective to get the students in in a timely fashion,” said Micallef.
Although the rollout mostly went smoothly Tuesday morning at Atlantic High, there was a noticeable line of students waiting to be screened when the first warning bell of the morning rang. One student’s backpack became temporarily stuck in the scanner.
Micallef said these are just first week hiccups and he expects things to be ironed out within the week.
“Yeah, this is day one. I think after everything, once they learn the routine, just like anything else, give it a week, they're gonna understand. They drop their bags and just walk through. Kids are a little timid,” said Micallef.
Evolv said the scanners cost between $2,000 and $3,000 per scanner, per month to operate.
Captain Todd Smith who is the Director of Safety and Security for the district said it’s crucial for screening technology like this to be in place, even if it is a bit inconvenient at first.
“When I toured Marjory Stoneman Douglas, it was an absolute tragedy what occurred there. And it is critical that we keep our kids safe. We can't allow that to happen here, and we're taking every step that we can to ensure that our kids are as safe as possible,” said Smith.
Seventeen people were killed when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day in 2018. Since then, there have been dozens of school shootings at public and private K-12 schools throughout the country.
Smith said if they can catch a student bringing a weapon to campus, they can save countless student and teacher lives.
Superintendent Balgobin said the decision to test out the new tech at just one high school, a few weeks before school lets out for the summer, is an intentional one.
The district will collect data during the pilot program ahead of a planned roll out at more schools in the district in the fall.
“You have a few weeks, right, a few weeks where you're going to be able to collect observational data. But in addition to that, you have the analytics that we will be studying on a daily basis as well. So adjustments will be made in terms of procedures moving forward, so that you have a clear, smooth transition,” said Balgobin.
The technology can screen up to 2,000 students an hour.
While Volusia County Schools pilots this new tech to keep kids safe, the Florida legislature is considering rolling back age restrictions on owning and buying a long gun in the state from 21 to 18. The restrictions were put in place after the Parkland shooting.
Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republicans who support the bill say it’s only fair to let adults own guns. DeSantis said it doesn’t make sense that 18-year-olds can own and operate guns in the military but not back home in Florida.
“Look, I was in Iraq. I was there with 18-year-old Marines, 18-year-old soldiers that were put out in the streets of Fallujah and Ramadi and told they had to risk their lives for this country. Then they come back after doing that, and even though they were carrying a firearm the whole time, they’re told you cannot exercise your Second Amendment rights here as an adult and as a veteran,” asked DeSantis at a press conference.
But opponents of the bill say more guns will lead to more mass shootings at schools, and other public places like churches, synagogues, and movie theaters.
This year alone, more than 3,300 people have died from gun violence according to the Gun Violence Archive.
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