LOUISVILLE, Ky. — During the Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education meeting Tuesday, board members and the community discussed school safety.
Dr. Corrie Shull made a motion for Superintendent Marty Pollio to propose a plan for metal detectors in schools in the April 25 board meeting. He also recommended a task force to address safety issues in the district.
While the idea was met with applause from the audience and quickly seconded by another member, others were skeptical.
"Frankly, I don’t want to hear about school safety from anybody that voted against a mask mandate or has ever advocated against a mask mandate in schools," Board Member Chris Kolb said.
At the base of the issue are students and the parents that send them off to school each day, like Brad Watson. The Eastern High School parent said to the board, "if you don’t solve this issue, teachers are going to get shot and children are going to die.”
"I find it to be disheartening that at a school board meeting, we have to talk about the proliferation of handguns in the community," Pollio said. "I don’t know that there are other agencies having to talk about that."
Shull even blamed the need for metal detectors on what he called the impotence of Metro Council. All that as Councilman Anthony Piagentini sat in the crowd. He responded during public comment.
”I got a lot of insults today. At least there is bipartisan agreement that the former mayor was impotent related to public safety and I assume that is who you are talking about because it is his job, whereas Metro Council is simply policymakers," he said.
However, Shull said his comment was in reference to Metro Council.
"You all have not led on keeping our streets safe. That is your job first. Not the job of the school board," he said.
Already, the superintendent noted three big hurdles:
- Cost: the superintendent anticipates it will cost around $5 million.
- Staffing: they'll need additional staff to work at the metal detectors in each school. Staffing is already something the district has struggled with.
- Law enforcement officers: If a bag needs to be searched, officers will need to be on hand to do so.
The motion moved forward and Pollio is supposed to give a presentation on the proposal at their next meeting in April.
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