ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Weapons detectors soon could be coming to Allentown middle schools — less than a year after they were implemented at city high schools.
Allentown School District is set to hold a community forum on school safety at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at South Mountain Middle School. Officials say the event is meant to focus on safety at the district’s middle schools.
“We are currently considering expanding this safety measure to middle schools."Allentown School District survey, on weapons detectors
A post on the district’s Instagram says its leaders are “continuously exploring new resources and technologies to support and maintain a safe and secure environment” and asks parents to complete a survey by Wednesday.
Weapons-detection systems were “successfully implemented” at all three Allentown public high schools at the end of the 2023-24 school year, officials say in the survey.
“We are currently considering expanding this safety measure to middle schools,” the survey says.
It asks respondents whether they “agree that this would make our middle schools a more safe environment.”
Weapons in schools, and detectors
Allentown School Board in October 2023 approved detectors for Allen and Dieruff high schools, Building 21 and J. Birney Crum Stadium.
Thirty weapons-detections systems spread across those four sites cost the school district $557,000.
Detectors first were used in April at Allen, while the other two schools had them by the end of the 2023-24 school year.
Allentown School District officials organized a community safety forum in September 2023, days after an Allen student was found with a loaded handgun.
The 15-year-old faced five charges, including a felony. The outcome of his case is unclear; because he was a minor, he was not publicly identified.
A 17-year-old Dieruff student was arrested less than two months later after authorities said they found him outside the school with a gun. He also was not identified.
More than 500 weapons were seized from Allentown students at all levels during the 2022-23 school year, according to a report presented last year by district officials.
The report indicated there were 94 weapons-related incidents at Trexler Middle School that year.
