CHESAPEAKE, Va. — As a parent, as soon as your child gets on the school bus in the morning, you want them to be as safe and secure as possible. In Chesapeake, a few new additions have been put in place to make sure the children are protected both in the building and on the commute.
“Are we perfect? No. But do we strive to do everything we can to make sure our students faculty and staff feel safe on a daily basis? Yes." Said Dr. Penny Schultz, Assistant Director of School Safety and Security at Chesapeake Public Schools.
Last week, the Chesapeake Public Schools Security Task Force outlined security changes they are making. One of them is a weapon detector pilot program.
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“It uses propriety sensors in an AI system to look at anything that carries the level of alloy, shape, that would construe a weapon so then we’re not having the whole historical metal detectors where you’re dumping everything in a basket to go through," said Schultz.
The school system has had requests to keep their children safer. Back in February, a student brought a loaded gun into Indian River High School.
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The weapon detector program is currently in place at Greenbrier Intermediate School, Jolliff Middle School, and Oscar Smith High School. Through the data collected, officials will know whether or not it's successful enough to implement in other buildings like Indian River.
“We’ll go above and beyond to make sure that again, we are researching and looking into best practices and what works best and serves our community best in the world of safety," Schultz told News 3.
Another change is the scannable ID program.
“On the bus, we use them to capture the ridership data so we can have better information to share with parents on what bus the student is on, where they get on, where they get off," said Director of Student Transportation, Dr. David Benson.
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The hope is that no students will get lost on the commute, and if they do, the district can track where they are. These IDs are also scanned in schools to see if a student didn't show up, to check out library books, and grab lunch. It's a phased approach and is already being used in all elementary schools.
“Hopefully by this time next year our entire student population pre-k through 12 will be using ID badges," Benson said.
The funding for these programs came out of the system's operating budget. Other security changes include conducting drills with more regularity, installing 'Stop the Bleed' kits and NARCAN in every school, and making sure each building has a police radio so they can contact law enforcement directly.
