Late last school year, an email was sent to Parents and Guardians of students at Mentor High School. The email said:

“The Mentor Exempted Village School District is committed to protecting the health, welfare, and safety of students, staff, visitors, and District property. Accordingly, the Board of Education has authorized properly trained school administrators to use hand-held metal detectors (or wands) to detect guns, knives, dangerous weapons, and other unauthorized objects (e.g., vape pens and drug paraphernalia).”

Since the email got sent out it has raised a few questions with students.

When and how was this policy adapted?

On March 6, 2024, the Mentor School district had a board meeting. In the board meeting they discussed whether Mentor should start to use hand held metal detectors/wands. In a different board meeting that first happened August 8, 2023 – and was revisited November 21, 2023 – the board discussed having different security precautions as well. The board also discussed identification badges for staff, students, and visitors, secured entries, checkpoint construction, monitoring devices, etc. The use of the metal detectors started on April 15, 2024.  In the meeting document that was shared to parents and students it said, examples were given of what different security precautions could be taken. There has not been an update on this matter since, so we looked into it.

Was this a genuine concern of students or was it just something that the board wanted?

As mentioned in the previous meetings, it seems as if detectors are something the board has been wanting to start for a while. At the end of the email there were two links attached that led to the information about the board meetings. Administrators have been seen around Mentor High with the hand-help metal detectors already.

We asked Unit 1 Principal Ryan McKnight about the program, and this is what he said:

“Mentor High School made the decision last year to purchase the hand held metal detectors as a way to deter and detect students who may possess banned substances that otherwise may be difficult to detect such as certain vaping devices and potentially weapons. The hand held wands are only used after repeated requests for students to discard any banned material are denied. The administration team has been trained to use the wands to detect objects that may be located in students’ bookbags, purses, or on their person. I have not yet encountered a situation where I have suspected a student had a device and the student didn’t voluntarily provide the device so I haven’t used the hand held wand yet. Mentor is continuing to implement the latest and most effective strategies in order to provide a safe work and educational environment for both students and staff.” 

The reaction by students has been mixed. Many students are outraged by this and others are perfectly fine. This has brought the attention that kids with piercings who have contraband could lie about having anything on them and claim it’s a piercing or other body modification. Others have thought about the Chromebooks and other things in their bags that have metal or could set off the metal detectors. Many cities in Ohio have started to use metal detectors. Yet, some cities with a higher crime rate than others haven’t yet. Just some of the cities that have started to use metal detectors are Akron, Canton, Columbus, Jefferson, and Mansfield along with other cities.

How has It worked so far in communities?

Akron is one school district that has used metal detectors:

“Mark Williamson, director of marketing and communications, said two guns have been confiscated in the last four years. However, these weapons were not found using the metal detectors. Students are checked at random times — not always at the beginning of the school day. The only buildings using the metal detectors daily are the alternative buildings.” (The Daily Record).

Even though some people might think that metal detectors being carried in school is “dumb” it can be useful to prevent dangerous threats.

According to the National School Safety and Security Services, “Following high-profile incidents of school violence or stabbing incidents, it is not uncommon for some parents, the media and others in a school-community to call for metal detectors in responses to such incidents” (National School Safety and Security Services).  

At Mentor High, according to board policy established March 4, 2024, “School administrators may use hand-held metal detectors whenever they reasonably suspect that the search is required to discover a violation of law or school rules.” This is a rule that is specifically for Mentor High School. Some students might be a little worried that they might have to be searched if they got off to a bad start with a school administrator or just because they might look ‘suspicious’.

Overall, some students are upset about this new rule but it hasn’t proven to have started any difficulties yet. At least one staff member we talked to was supportive.

“I think unfortunately its a necessity. Its upsetting that we have come to this, that it is a necessity but I do think its a necessity. If you go to a concert you have to go through security and so you feel safe. So if you go to school, there’s a lot of people and you want to feel safe. I think that if the school wants to purchase them I think it should be two fold where they’re also putting more money into MRT or other resources. I think it could be challenging for someone to be there all day whether they are a security officer or someone else, like how are we going to pay for that person or for the metal detectors themselves and where is that money coming from? Is it being taken away from something like MRT? If so then I might not be for it.” (quoted from French teacher Nicholas Dierna.) 

Some of the main administrators can be seen having these hand-held metal detectors on their personnel. If any students have any contraband they should leave it at home or at least not bring it to school at all.