CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County approved a motion Monday afternoon for the purchase of nine concealed weapons detection systems to use at high schools in the county.
Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Tom Williams says these metal detectors are similar to the ones WVU introduced at Milan Puskar Stadium at the beginning of the fall.
Tom Williams
“Basically, this is like the system at WVU’s stadium where you walk in and it detects weapons,” Williams said Monday afternoon.
Kanawha County Schools Deputy Superintendent Paula Potter says the systems will not be an inconvenience.
“It does detect weapons just as you walk through, you don’t have to wand, you don’t have to have somebody looking at a screen,” Potter said. “A really nice feature of this system as well is, if they walk around the side tot try to get around it, it detects an alarm of somebody not going through the two poles.”
The systems will cost $836,650 and will be paid for with excess levy funds. Athena Secuirty Inc.was the highest scoring bidder for the systems.
Potter says another upside of the systems is the ability to move them around if needed.
“They’re portable, so we could move them to various locations if we need to, but the plan is that they would be at the high schools,” Potter said.
Williams says the moving of the systems will be fluid and depend on the situation at the particular school.
“I think that would depend on the situation,” Williams said. “If you’re having a particularly rough time at a school, and the principal felt like they needed to use it, maybe for a basketball game, a wrestling match or whatever, then absolutely. Proms, homecoming dances, things of that nature.”
The systems are expected to be ready to use in schools this academic year.
The board of education also approved two notable contracts, and those include:
- A contract with Daktronics for a new, $358,710 display board at Laidley Field
- A contract with Mobile Modular for three new portable classrooms at Carver Career and Technical Center, costing $653,294.