GROVEPORT, Ohio — School board members at Groveport Madison Schools will continue the conversation surrounding school safety Wednesday evening.
In January, two students were arrested after a fight at Groveport Madison High School. Two months earlier, another fight at the high school prompted parents to hold a meeting with the school board about student safety.
District leaders continue debating the best ways to keep students safe, and one of the big ideas on ways to do that goes back to the possibility of putting metal detectors in schools.
During a school board meeting on Jan. 18, the deputy superintendent presented several metal detector options.
During a presentation, Deputy Superintendent Paul Smathers said the board is looking at 30 wands with 12 of them being at the high school.
The school board is considering spending thousands of dollars on increased security. A walk-through metal detector can cost more than $2,000 each, and there are questions about how many staff members it would take to run them.
“Kids have rights. You can’t just search a kid in front of other kids, so you got to take them back to a private room, so that’s some of the legal things we have work out,” Smathers said.
At least one school member didn’t seem convinced any of it would make kids safer.
“If it was guaranteed 100%, then I don’t care how much it costs, but it’s not guaranteed,” said one school board member.
The school board has heard presentations from metal detector companies at recent meetings, and another company is set to present Wednesday night, according to the school board agenda.
On top of the metal detector discussion, the school board has also posted safety surveys they plan to discuss and send out to district families and staff members. This is something the board mentioned back in November, as they want to make sure students have a say in the safety of their school.