LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio weighs his options for a plan to potentially bring metal detectors to schools, alternative programs like Breckinridge Metropolitan High School already have them in place -- albeit under different circumstances.
That's where Kumar Rashad teaches juniors and seniors who have faced a variety of obstacles in their young lives.
"Kids have to take their shoes off, they may have to empty their pockets every morning," he said. "Most of the students who I interact with are here for gun charges [or] guns brought to school."
Breckinridge Metropolitan High is one of three JCPS schools with metal detectors installed. After Tuesday night's School Board meeting, Rashad discussed the topic with his classroom.
The answers were split.
"I have some students who feel they wouldn't be in my school if they had metal detectors at their old school that prevented guns from coming in, but others feel like this is a military police state and they wouldn't want to have this at other schools," Rashad said. "I think that it'll have a negative psychological effect on some students who feel they are being policed."
Rashad also questions the feasibility to have metal detectors at larger schools. Breckinridge Metropolitan High has a fairly small student body, sitting at just under 100 students.
"[And still] sometimes I feel like that process takes a while. What about those schools that have 500 to 1,000 [students]?" he said. "I don't even understand how the logistics of that are going to work."
Pollio has repeatedly said funding isn't the issue to implementing metal detectors across the school district, rather having the staff to oversee the process each day.
Both School Board members Linda Duncan and James Craig agree safety needs to be taken a step further, given recent incidents where guns have been found in students' possession.
Duncan admits the logistics pose challenges, but says it's time to get creative.
"I just think it's something we need to study and look at," Duncan said. "I don't know how worried people are about how things look. I think the primary concern is safety."
Meanwhile, Craig says he's keeping an open mind to hear what Pollio comes up with in his proposal and whether studies support this as the right option.
"We need to hear from the experts on school operations as to how it can work, let them tell us how they can implement it effectively," Craig said. "Consider Iroquois High School with more than 50 exterior doors. Does one or two detectors at some of those doors actually keep students safe if there are others who want to bring guns into the building. Is that realistic? I don't know, but we're at a situation now that we have to consider these things."
Pollio is scheduled to present his plan to the School Board on April 25.
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