ALLENTOWN, Pa. — As students arrived at Allentown School District’s four middle schools Monday, they walked through weapons detectors that were ready to alert staff if someone tried to bring a knife, gun or bomb into the building.
ASD officially implemented the detectors at Harrison-Morton, Raub, South Mountain and Trexler middle schools this week, according to Melissa Reese, a spokesperson for the district. Raub began piloting the machines last week.
The detectors have been in place at the district's three high schools since the spring.
“The Allentown School District remains committed to creating an environment where everyone within our learning community feels safe, valued, empowered and loved," Superintendent Carol Birks said in a statement Monday.
Birks said the district expanded the detectors to the middle schools to reinforce ASD's "commitment to ensuring a safe and welcoming environment for everyone."
In addition to prioritizing physical safety, ASD will also continue to increase mental health supports in its schools, Birks added.
Allentown school directors approved the purchase of 30 Opengate weapons detection systems, along with base plates, test pieces, handheld detectors and staff training, for $557,176 in October 2023. Each weapons detection unit cost about $17,000.
According to school board documents at the time, 17 weapons detectors were installed at Allen High School; five at Dieruff High School; six at Building 21 High School; and two at J. Birney Crum Stadium.
The detectors have been redistributed to include the systems at the middle schools, too, Reese said. No additional detectors were purchased.
As a safety precaution, the district declined to share how many detectors are currently at each secondary school.
"Generally, we can say that weapons detection systems are now operational at all of our middle schools and high schools," Reese said in an email. "Since we have just launched this at scale at the middle schools, we are still assessing the implementation and will make adjustments if necessary."
Support and impact
Based on a recent survey of students, parents and staff, the district community is supportive of the weapons detectors in the schools.
The survey findings were presented at a community safety forum at South Mountain Middle School late last month, but the survey remained open.
As of Monday, the survey showed the majority of the 3,009 people who responded — 84% of whom were students — supported installing the weapons detectors in the middle schools.
About 58% of the respondents said they believe the detectors will not disrupt the schools’ mission to educate students.
Birks said the detectors have been successful since the district first started using them at the high schools.
The district pointed to its own data to demonstrate this point at its September safety forum.
ASD recorded more than 500 weapons-related incidents across its secondary schools during the 2022-23 school year; about half of those incidents occurred at the middle schools.
The number of incidents dropped to 60 last school year, with 25 of those occurring at the middle schools.
During the first few weeks of the 2024-25 school year, just seven weapons-related incidents were logged, Reese said Monday. Four of those incidents were at Harrison-Morton Middle School, and the three remaining incidents were at ASD high schools.
Weapons detector process
The detection systems are able to locate weapons based on density of the object; they are not metal detectors.
Each detection machine consists of two gray poles stationed parallel to each other. The tops of the poles light up green when people pass through if no weapons are detected. If the system is triggered, the poles light up red and beep, alerting security of a potential weapon on the person.
Students pass their laptops around the machine to avoid the system being falsely triggered. Students can still walk through with their backpacks and cellphones.
If the system is triggered, security staff members will ask the student to remove any metal objects from their person and place their backpack on a table. A security staff member will then use a wand tool for an individual screening.
Additional screenings
If a student triggers the wand tool, another wand screening will take place.
If the student triggers the tool again, they will be taken to a private area for a more thorough screening, according to the September safety presentation; this may include a student turning out their pockets, removing their coat or taking off their shoes.
Wand screenings will be conducted by a staff member of the same gender as the student when possible, and an administrator will be present for any secondary screenings.
Everyone who enters the building is subject to screenings.
If a weapon is detected by the Opengate systems, an administrator or security officer will put the weapon in a safe place until police can come collect it.
