All William Floyd schools to get metal detectors, officials say
Concerns rose after a William Floyd High School student was allegedly found to possess a loaded handgun last week. Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas
The William Floyd district will equip entrances at its K-12 schools with walk-through metal detectors, a move school officials announced days after police charged a 14-year-old student with possessing a loaded handgun in school.
Board members decided to install metal detectors at "designated entrances" in schools at an emergency board meeting Monday, which was not open to the public, according to a statement the district released Tuesday.
Officials did not say when the metal detectors will be installed but that the district has begun the process of selecting a system and the installation will “begin as soon as possible.”
It is unclear how such a system will be implemented at William Floyd, one of the largest school districts on Long Island with 9,400 students, or how much it will cost. District spokesman James Montalto said he does not have more information to share when Newsday asked the district for estimated cost and timeline of the system’s installation.
“... this is a priority and we are working toward having them up and running as soon as possible,” Montalto wrote in an email Tuesday. “More information will be available to share as we move forward.”
The district on the South Shore of Suffolk County has one high school, two middle schools and five elementary schools. It also runs two alternative education programs: Floyd Academy for grades 10-12 and William Floyd Learning Center for elementary-aged children.
It's also unclear how the new security measure would affect the start of a regular school day. School officials already warned high school and Floyd Academy students over the weekend to be prepared for longer wait times Monday morning as the high school would increase its random scanning of students with metal detector wands.
The rise in alarm came after a William Floyd High School student, who was brought to an administrator’s office last Friday on suspicion of vaping, was allegedly found to possess a loaded handgun, authorities said last week.
The weapon was detected when the student was searched with a metal detecting wand, school officials said. The teen has since been charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, according to police.
The next board meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the William Floyd High School library, where officials will make a security presentation, the district said.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
