How much security do schools need? Hampton Roads ramps up spending.

“Our administrative team received information regarding a potential threat.”

“This morning, one of our first-graders told fellow students on the bus he was carrying weapons.”

“Earlier this afternoon, we found a knife at school belonging to one of our third-grade students.”

“We received another anonymous bomb threat ... The threat was deemed non-credible.”

“This morning, we received reports of gunshots behind our building.”

“A weapon was found in the student’s book bag. The item was quickly confiscated and determined to be a loaded gun.”

___

Parents across Hampton Roads have received these messages and others like them repeatedly this year, as schools have worked to transparently and quickly relay information about security-related incidents.

For the past several months, school safety concerns have kept parents and teachers on edge across the region. Particularly since a 6-year-old student brought a gun to school and shot his teacher in a first grade classroom at Newport News’ Richneck Elementary in January, security measures have been top of mind.

The scrutiny has translated to numerous discussions in school board rooms, with school officials reassuring the public that security has always been a priority while exploring ways to add more protection. As schools finalize their budgets for next year, millions of dollars have been earmarked for a variety of security measures. Divisions are doing everything from adding security officers to increasing mental health supports.

“It’s unfortunate we’re here having this conversation, because when I was in school many years ago, that was the least of anyone’s concern,” Portsmouth Superintendent Elie Bracy said. “But I know now, change has definitely occurred.”

___

Weapons detection systems

Among the most visible signs of increased security are metal detectors, or weapons detection systems, making their way into multiple Hampton Roads schools.

In Newport News, the city and schools secured about $1.5 million in funding to order 90 weapons detection units in the days following the Richneck shooting. By mid-April, each school had at least one unit installed.

Portsmouth and Norfolk schools are also securing more weapons detection systems, and Chesapeake is exploring the option through a pilot planned at three schools.

In Portsmouth, secondary schools already have newly installed weapons detection systems. This was first piloted in December 2021 at Manor High School. The division has now requested $4.6 million to place units in all elementary schools. The city has not yet made a decision regarding the request. Norfolk Public Schools plans to do the same with $1 million in the budget specifically for these kinds of systems in every school.

Hampton began using weapons detection units at its high schools last year, and added them at middle schools and K-8 sites at the beginning of this year. In August, it also communicated to parents that units would be added to all elementary schools throughout the school year.

“The decision to utilize the weapons detection units at the elementary schools was made in the late spring, early summer of 2022 after we had the opportunity to use them in our high schools and see the value,” said Hampton schools spokeswoman Kellie Goral. She said funding was available in the budget, so school officials decided to expand the safety layer to all sites.

Overall, Hampton spent $1.1 million on weapons detection units.

Yet in Virginia Beach, there still is no funding earmarked for weapons detections systems or bulletproof windows or anything else schools across the region and nation are considering. Superintendent Aaron Spence said he and other officials want to ensure that whatever the division decides to invest in, it is “done well and done right.”

Virginia Beach’s new school safety task force, first announced earlier this year, is tasked with collaborating with the city, including its police force, mental health services and emergency services in order to determine the best ways to address myriad concerns impacting the safety of students and school staff.

Spence said the idea is to not make decisions “in the heat of the moment” following a violent incident, but to thoroughly review preventative measures to determine if they are good investments.

“Everybody wants to know about metal detectors, but there’s a lot of problems with metal detectors,” Spence said. “If you talk to the mental health experts, they’ll tell you there’s problems with that just in terms of kids coming into a building, and that’s the message they get.

“There’s also some issues, security experts will tell you, if they’re not properly staffed. And if the people who are staffing them aren’t properly trained, you’re creating some liability issues where people might think you’re safe, but you’re not really safe.”

A 2019 article from WestEd, a nonpartisan education research and development agency, described metal detectors as “a symbolic barrier that signals a presence of security.” Though in school settings they appear to be somewhat effective in preventing students from bringing in weapons, they are not perfect. It referred to two mass shootings, Red Lake High School in Minnesota in March 2005 and Los Angeles International Airport in November 2013, which indicate that metal detectors do not necessarily stop a perpetrator.

Though metal detectors can be perceived as “visual evidence” of a school system taking security seriously, researchers have reportedly found a negative impact, including students feeling less safe when they are present and perceiving there to be more threats within the school, according to the article.

Evolv, the weapons detection system at Portsmouth schools, is similar to what is used at theme parks and sports stadiums. It touts that it can help reduce lines and enhance safety by identifying where a potential threat is located on a person, according to a parent guide posted on the division’s website.

Evolv’s facts page acknowledges that weapons have been known to make it through metal detectors and other weapons screening systems.

This is why schools are pushing for additional security personnel.

“We just can’t put a weapons detection system at the front door and say, ‘OK, that’s it,’” Bracy said.

Metal detectors are still fairly uncommon in schools, though recent events may be changing that. They are particularly uncommon in elementary schools. Former Newport News Superintendent George Parker noted after the Richneck shooting that security measures at the elementary level have historically been focused on outside threats rather than threats from students.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2019-20, less than 3% of schools nationwide used metal detectors daily. Broken down by level, 7.7% of high schools used metal detectors daily, and 3.1% of middle schools did. A percentage is not available for elementary school use of daily metal detectors because reporting standards were not met, possibly because there are too few instances for a reliable estimate.

___

Other measures

School officials stress that weapons detection systems are just one measure in a multi-layered approach.

Newport News Board Chair Lisa Surles-Law said during an April meeting she was glad the weapons detection units were in place at all schools.

“That’s the exterior, and that’s important,” she said. “The interior is equally, if not more, (important).”

Surles-Law noted the ongoing staff training on security protocols and other proactive measures being taken in the division are encouraging. She said new welcome signs at all schools also stress the importance of safety-minded behaviors, such as reminding everyone entering a building not to hold the door open for anyone coming in behind them.

All Hampton Roads divisions have school resource officers assigned to some campuses, as well as division-employed security officers. They also report secure school entrances that screen all visitors, continual staff training and equipment maintenance, radio and camera systems and school threat assessment teams.

Chesapeake Chief of Schools Jacqueline Miller said the division has implemented numerous security measures in the past five years. The Mayor’s School Safety Task Force was formed in March 2018 in response to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.

“We’ve been focused on security each and every day,” Miller said.

Miller said Chesapeake also has protocols in place that require all classroom doors to be locked at all times and all staff to carry badges and keys at all times.

In the fall, Chesapeake also completed the digitization of all its school maps, which are now accessible to law enforcement. That means in an emergency, law enforcement officials responding to a school can immediately pull up a three-dimensional map of the campus.

Other measures underway include shatterproof glass to all front entrances. This week, the Chesapeake school board approved revised policies that will allow the division to arm its school security officers.

[ Related: Chesapeake School Board will allow security officers to be armed ]

In Hampton, Goral said the division has not seen an increase in security threats this year, which officials attribute to the layered approach to safety and security. One of the layers used in Hampton schools are police canines that conduct random narcotic sweeps, as well as weapon detection canines that conduct random firearm searches at all schools. In January, the canine firearm detection searches were expanded to the elementary schools.

Goral said the weapon detection canines have multiple visits scheduled each month at each school.

Budgets for next year also are making room for new measures.

Portsmouth Public Schools said it has $530,000 earmarked in its upcoming budget for two new initiatives, which would create a new full-time school safety coordinator and add 20 part-time school security officers to work in elementary schools during morning arrival.

In Newport News, next year’s budget focused heavily on security.

“School and building safety have always been a division priority,” Interim Superintendent Michele Mitchell wrote to school board members. “However, the current risk has necessitated taking security to a different level and this comes with a cost.”

The school division is adding 40 security officers, as well as a Director of Safe Schools position. About $1.5 million will go to additional equipment.

In Virginia Beach, Spence said it’s not simple adding up exactly how much the division plans to spend on school safety and security because it all depends on how people look at the issue.

There is funding for physical safety, including cameras and other kinds of security items. There is funding for personnel, including new security assistants and the division’s continued phased approach to incorporating more armed security officers — which involves paying to train and arm them. Then there is also funding for student supports, including new behavior interventionist positions to assist teachers and principals with dealing with behavior management, which factors into school safety.

___

Behind heightened scrutiny

In addition to the Richneck shooting, schools across Hampton Roads have dealt with dozens of bomb threats since in the fall. Many led to evacuations, and even students being sent home early.

Social media also has been a hotbed for threats, as well as a source of instant communication among parents. In turn, divisions are increasing transparency, sometimes sending mass notifications about incidents — such as a toy gun brought to school — that previously would have just earned a student a call home to parents. The transparency is necessary to address any inaccurate information that may be circulating on social media.

Teachers and parents also have become more vocal about their concerns.

In Newport News, dozens of teachers spoke during board meetings about a culture in which they say they are not supported by administrators, and student behaviors are not appropriately addressed. A discipline audit is underway, and the administration is set to open an alternative program for elementary students in the fall.

A teacher at Norfolk this year spoke about her safety concerns during a school board meeting. She said the high school she worked at was experiencing “ongoing, spiraling violence” and this was largely because of a lack of security officers.

“Common sense measures can and need to be implemented,” the teacher said in a January meeting, adding that other schools and school systems have security measures such as K-9s and metal detectors and her high school could too.

The state reporting requirement for behavior and security incidents changed last year, so it is difficult to directly compare with previous years. But administrators nearly across the board have said they are seeing increased behavior concerns since students returned after the pandemic.

Last year, divisions across the Hampton Roads region reported more than 4,400 incidents of fighting, and more than 300 of assault and battery. More than 900 instances of a student striking staff were reported. Additionally, the divisions reported about 3,600 instances of students engaging in reckless behavior that created a risk of injury to themselves or others. Additionally, a dozen instances of a student being in illegal possession of a handgun were reported.

Records requested by The Pilot show that schools have sent out dozens of notifications to parents this year about safety-related incidents.

___

Mental health challenges, increased behavior concerns

School officials nationwide have said they are seeing more behavior problems from students since before the pandemic. Mental health professionals believe the pandemic and the measures taken to fight it have resulted in a surge of symptoms among children and adolescents, including disruptive behavior patterns.

In 2021, the General Assembly directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to look into COVID’s impact on education across the state. The commission’s report, released in November, shows that as part of the review, school staff were asked to rate the seriousness of 15 issues they were facing, including teacher compensation, health concerns and student academic progress. Staff ranked student behavior problems as the most serious.

“A big part of the safety and security conversation is ‘Why are kids making threats?’” Spence said. “‘What’s going on there? What’s going on with their behaviors?’”

Virginia Beach’s budget proposal puts school safety and student support together. To promote school safety, the goal is to add new behavior interventionist positions to provide support and address the “extreme behaviors.”

Schools across Hampton Roads already launched numerous mental health initiatives to address this issue. In Portsmouth, the Here to Help campaign points families to mental health services along with programs and partnerships. Norfolk schools have a grant to partner with CHKD mental health hospital and highlighted its efforts to provide social-emotional learning and tiered support for mental health and behavioral efforts.

Newport News’ budget for next year adds six school counselors and five school-based program specialists to help the division meet rising mental health needs of students. Chesapeake will also add school counselors.

School officials also want to assure families they are not only taking school safety seriously, but they are actively trying to involve parents and guardians. More and more, notices and announcements are provided to families with as much accurate, timely information as schools can provide, multiple officials said. Those notices will include educational components for the community.

“If you or your child see or hear something concerning, please do not hesitate in reporting that to law enforcement.”

“I do want to remind you that weapons of any kind, even toys, are not allowed at school.”

“However, parents, please remind your children the role we all play in keeping our school safe...”

Nour Habib, nour.habib@virginiamedia.com

Kelsey Kendall, kelsey.kendall@virginiamedia.com