DO YOU SUPPORT THE DEMAND FOR SCHOOL METAL DETECTORS?
Okay, family, here's the 411 in the 504...
New Orleans Public School students who are devising their own agenda for improving conditions in New Orleans Public Schools said Thursday their top goal is eliminating a requirement for metal detectors at elementary schools.
That idea got a chilly response from top district administrators, but the officials gave a warm reception to other requests from the Rethink group, some of them targeting cafeteria offerings.
During a news conference with DJ "Downtown Leslie" Brown from hip hop station Power 102.9 FM, New Orleans Public School students detailed 12 recommendations for ensuring safe and dignified conditions in the schools.
Metal detectors in elementary schools should be optional, with school staff members and other students using other methods of gauging whether someone poses a danger, they said.
"Schools should not feel like prison," 16-year-old Vernard Carter said. "Schools should feel safe and inviting."
But district Superintendent Paul Vallas, who took part in the presentation, said he doesn't plan to eliminate the detector requirement anytime soon.
"Although the metal detectors issue is sound, it is really the least of our priorities," Vallas said.
Founded in 2006, Rethink is a privately financed organization that encourages students to take an active role in identifying changes needed in the school system.
Nearly 20 participants in the summer program gave speeches and offered other demonstrations during Thursday's gathering.
Students called for replacing metal detectors in elementary schools with "mood detectors," professionals trained to read students' demeanor.
They also suggested creating student intervention teams that offer peer counseling and conflict resolution under adult supervisors.
Vallas said the district, facing deep budget cuts, is shifting funding around and spending less on security, hiring higher-quality staff members and providing training for security personnel.
He also said that the district will be hiring many new classroom aides, or paraprofessionals, for the upcoming school year.
Some students said they felt violated when security officers frisked them as they entered school.
Others said they feel like they are doing something wrong when they have to expose their belongings to scrutiny just to get to class in the morning.
"We don't feel safe in school when we are searched and treated like criminals," 14-year-old Victoria Carter said. "Please treat us with dignity."
School Security Chief Eddie Compass, a former superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, supported the continued use of metal detectors by citing an episode that occurred at Dilbert Elementary.
Without dating the incident, he said that through the use of metal detectors, security officers found a loaded gun on an 8-year-old boy. The pupil said he brought the weapon to confront a boy who had been picking on him, Compass said.
"If it only saved that one life, it was worth it for me to have thousands and thousands of kids walk through a metal detector on a daily basis," Compass said.
While students may not see metal detectors removed anytime soon, they plan to hold Vallas to his promises to respond to 11 other recommendations.
What do you think of this story? Do you support the demand for school metal detectors?
New Orleans Public School students who are devising their own agenda for improving conditions in New Orleans Public Schools said Thursday their top goal is eliminating a requirement for metal detectors at elementary schools.
That idea got a chilly response from top district administrators, but the officials gave a warm reception to other requests from the Rethink group, some of them targeting cafeteria offerings.
During a news conference with DJ "Downtown Leslie" Brown from hip hop station Power 102.9 FM, New Orleans Public School students detailed 12 recommendations for ensuring safe and dignified conditions in the schools.
Metal detectors in elementary schools should be optional, with school staff members and other students using other methods of gauging whether someone poses a danger, they said.
"Schools should not feel like prison," 16-year-old Vernard Carter said. "Schools should feel safe and inviting."
But district Superintendent Paul Vallas, who took part in the presentation, said he doesn't plan to eliminate the detector requirement anytime soon.
"Although the metal detectors issue is sound, it is really the least of our priorities," Vallas said.
Founded in 2006, Rethink is a privately financed organization that encourages students to take an active role in identifying changes needed in the school system.
Nearly 20 participants in the summer program gave speeches and offered other demonstrations during Thursday's gathering.
Students called for replacing metal detectors in elementary schools with "mood detectors," professionals trained to read students' demeanor.
They also suggested creating student intervention teams that offer peer counseling and conflict resolution under adult supervisors.
Vallas said the district, facing deep budget cuts, is shifting funding around and spending less on security, hiring higher-quality staff members and providing training for security personnel.
He also said that the district will be hiring many new classroom aides, or paraprofessionals, for the upcoming school year.
Some students said they felt violated when security officers frisked them as they entered school.
Others said they feel like they are doing something wrong when they have to expose their belongings to scrutiny just to get to class in the morning.
"We don't feel safe in school when we are searched and treated like criminals," 14-year-old Victoria Carter said. "Please treat us with dignity."
School Security Chief Eddie Compass, a former superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, supported the continued use of metal detectors by citing an episode that occurred at Dilbert Elementary.
Without dating the incident, he said that through the use of metal detectors, security officers found a loaded gun on an 8-year-old boy. The pupil said he brought the weapon to confront a boy who had been picking on him, Compass said.
"If it only saved that one life, it was worth it for me to have thousands and thousands of kids walk through a metal detector on a daily basis," Compass said.
While students may not see metal detectors removed anytime soon, they plan to hold Vallas to his promises to respond to 11 other recommendations.
What do you think of this story? Do you support the demand for school metal detectors?
I have worked in the New Orleans Public School system since 2002. How anyone in their right mind can find fault with the demand for school metal detectors is beyond me. There is no telling what weapons students are carrying on them these days and having a metal detector in schools would give every parent, student, and teacher some peace of mind. We have to do whatever it takes to keep our kids safe. Ban the guns, knives and other concealed weapons. I know it's not the guns and knives that kill people, it's the people themselves but we have to start somewhere. Just like we can't write without a pen and paper, we can't kill without a weapon.