You wake up early at 5:00 a.m., excited for the start of the new school year. After choosing an outfit and grabbing your backpack, you hop on the bus to school. As you step off the bus, you’re surprised to find a long line of unfamiliar faces ahead of you, stretching all the way to the parking lot. When you finally reach the front door, you realize the reason for the holdup: the school has installed metal detectors. You pass your Chromebook through, not expecting any issues. Suddenly, the light turns red, and you’re instructed to step aside for a bag inspection.
For the 2025-2026 school year, Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) is debating whether or not to add metal detectors in secondary schools around the district. In an interview with KPS Superintendent Darrin Slade, Slade explained to News Channel 3 that he would like to add metal detectors at secondary schools around the district. Before making this big decision, he wanted the community’s input about the topic.
If Slade decides to go ahead with the implementation, metal detectors will be placed at the school’s two entry points for the 2025-2026 school year. The exact placement will be decided by the school principal, the district’s Chief of Safety, and the Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Instruction and Leadership.
Social studies teacher James Johnson has mixed feelings about having metal detectors put into place in schools.
“My opinion doesn’t really matter,” Johnson said. “It’s more about the facts about how they work and help, and I’ve read lots of information that says that they do not really do what they’re supposed to do, and that there are negative things, like slowing down people getting into the building.”
Research by the WestEd Justice and Prevention Center published an article by Jaclyn Schildkraut and Kathryn Grogan, titled Are Metal Detectors Effective At Making Schools Safer? This article shows that metal detectors are often ineffective at catching weapons, and there’s little evidence to suggest that they would prevent school shootings.
Social studies teacher Michael Wright supports the use of metal detectors to locate weapons that students may try to bring into the school. However, he does not think that having metal detectors will prevent large-scale events.
“If you have a couple of students who have a dispute, and one of them had a knife on them or even a gun, I think that metal detectors are a good choice for preventing incidents like that, but if you’re thinking something larger, then I don’t think metal detectors will prevent something like that from that,” Wright said.
Other schools around the country, like the Lee County School District in Florida, have implemented a metal detector system called OPENGATE, which is the system KPS would use if weapon detectors are added to the high school. A video published on buy OPENGATE shows the metal detectors in action: students would hand over their Chromebooks and walk through. If the detectors flash green, students would be safe to keep on going. If the detectors flash red, students will be pulled aside for their bag to be checked.
The OPENGATE weapon detecting system is thought to be designed for quick and easy access. The system does not require people to remove their bags, backpacks, or purses. It is fast and designed for easy flow. However, things like pins and other small metal objects may trigger the machine and disrupt the flow of people getting into school and school events.
Because of their sensitivity, Johnson also worries that these metal detectors may hinder class time.
“If there’s already that added risk of adding time, that’s going to impact them more and put them at a disadvantage,” Johnson said. “Plus, we’ll be going to semesters next year, so classes will be even shorter already. So we take a 55-minute class, and I lose 15 minutes from metal detectors and all the other things that go on first hour, that’s a problem.”
Across the school, there are doubts as well as praise as the district debates on whether or not to implement metal detectors. Some people are happy to have metal detectors, feeling they will add a better sense of security. On the other hand, some prefer to avoid installing metal detectors, thinking it will put our school on the radar for more possible shootings.
“The question has to be: ‘is it worth the added cost,’” Johnson said. “Those kinds of decisions are above my pay grade, but I definitely see the reason for considering them. Just based on the evidence I’ve seen, I don’t think they’ll be effective.”
The main reason for the district even considering metal detectors is to prevent guns and knives from entering the schools. There have been threats of bombs and shootings, and metal detectors will hopefully deter people from even thinking about it.
“If someone really wants to harm a large number of students, I don’t think that metal detectors will stop them,” Wright said.
For now, staff and student opinions remain mixed on whether metal detectors should be installed in schools throughout the district.
