Highland Park school safety: Weapons detection system implemented at high schools

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. - As Highland Park High School students return to class Wednesday, they will be greeted with enhanced security. This includes a larger police presence than is typical on a school day, and a new safety measure that is intended to save lives.

Last week, Township High School District 113’s Board of Education approved the implementation of a weapons detection system in its schools.

Initially, the system was set to be introduced on a small scale until students and staff learned how to use it; however, following the fatal shooting of a local high school student on Sunday, the timeline for its implementation has been moved up.

"To the specific threat of someone bringing a concealed weapon into school, this is intended to address that," said Township High School District 113 Superintendent Bruce Law.

According to officials, when students arrive for the first day of school Wednesday, they will be required to present their ID upon entering, as they did last academic year.

They will also be screened by a CEIA OPENGATE Weapons Detection System, which will be rotated across the building’s main entrances.

"We want students to feel like we’ve taken this extra step to make sure they feel safe at school," said Law.

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Cellphones and keys won't activate the device.

"This is not like at the airport where you have to take everything out and go through a metal detector," said Law.

But laptops and Chromebooks will trigger the system – turning its lights from green to red. Students will need to remove computers from their bags, handing those off to security before passing through it.

"This is part of the learning curve that students will figure out, ‘okay, I know I’ve got to take my computer out, is there anything else in my backpack that will set this off,’" said Law.

If the machine is activated, security will conduct a secondary wand screening.

To start – Law said the system will not be at every door each day, but rather will be used at various entrances while officials assess the "impact on the culture and climate of the building."

It will not be announced in advance which doors will have a weapons detection system in place.

"We are expecting arrival to be more challenging than it would have been had we had time to adequately prepare, but I believe that whatever extra inconvenience we experience in the short term will be worth it," Law said in a letter to District 113 parents.

In response to the move, one group of parents says that while pleased with the progress, they would like to see more.

"At every entrance, every hour, every day, for here, forevermore. Unfortunately we learned on Sunday that weapons are more prevalent than we originally thought," said Suzi Wahl, parent of a Highland Park High School student.

Members of the group, ‘Parents for Securing Our Schools,’ have been calling for increased security measures since last summer’s Fourth of July parade tragedy. Their efforts ramped up following an incident in April when a student brought a handgun into the high school, prompting a lockdown.

Those parents attended a District 113 Facilities Committee meeting Tuesday evening, thanking board members for their efforts – and asking the district not to delay in expanding the measure.

"I understand and I am sensitive to the whole ‘cultural traumatization’ factor but I don’t think that's a valid reason to hold off and to have to study the issue. We lost that option on Sunday," said Enrique Perez, parent of two Highland Park High School students.

Law said that before bringing in additional devices at Highland Park High School, they want to ensure the process is smooth and efficient.

The system will also be introduced at Deerfield High School; a timeline for that rollout has not been provided.