‘Times have changed.’ This NC district will have cops and body scanners at each school.

Johnston County will become one of the first school systems in North Carolina to have both body scanners and school resource officers in every school.

The Johnston County Board of Commissioners and school board unanimously approved a plan this week for $9.6 million in school safety upgrades that includes installing weapons detection systems in every school. In addition, the school district has received $1.69 million in state school safety grants that will allow it to pay for having an armed law enforcement officer in every school.

“The safety and security of our students and staff is our number-one priority in Johnston County Public Schools,” Superintendent Eric Bracy said in a news release. “We are laser focused on making sure that we are constantly improving our practices and protocols and we will do whatever it takes to provide a safe learning environment.”

Johnston County is the state’s seventh-largest school system. It has more than 36,000 students.

The additional security measures comes during heightened fears of mass shootings.

There have been 46 school shootings in the United States this year and 139 since 2018 that have resulted in deaths or injuries, according to Education Week’s 2022 School Shooting Tracker. This year’s school shootings have resulted in 36 deaths and 95 injuries.

Elementary school officers

The mass shooting in May at Robb Elementary School in Texas triggered calls for adding school resource officers in elementary schools. High schools and middle schools are more likely than elementary schools to have an officer.

State lawmakers increased school safety funding in this year’s budget, particularly to get more officers into elementary schools and middle schools.

On Oct. 31, the N.C. Center for Safer Schools announced the recipients of $74.1 million in school safety grants.

The Johnston County school system received $1.69 million in grant money, with $1.4 million going toward paying law enforcement agencies to provide additional school resource officers.

David Pearce, assistant superintendent of Auxiliary and Administrative Services, said the grant will allow the district to start placing an SRO in every school. He said some law enforcement agencies have committed to having new school resource officers in place by Jan. 1.

In contrast, the Wake County school system will use its $659,867 in grant money to standardize its school visitor management system. The district will install kiosks at school entrances that will produce visitor badges and electronically check visitors against known sexual predator and offender databases.

State Rep. Erin Paré had criticized Wake for not seeking state funding for school resource officers in elementary schools.

‘Making our students and staff safe’

In addition to having more officers, Johnston County is installing body scanners in every school. Of the $9.6 million approved this week, $7 million will go toward weapons detection systems.

The funding will pay to:

▪ Purchase 54 stationary detection systems that will be placed at the main entrance of every school and other places throughout the district.

▪ Purchase 37 portable detection systems to be placed as needed at schools in locations other than the main entrance. Pearce, who oversees the district’s safety and security measures, said this could include placing them at bus rider entrances, student driver entrances and secondary carpool entrances.

▪ Hire a company to monitor if school doors are open or propped. Funding for the $1.5 million alarm monitoring system will come from the $177 million school construction bond referendum recently approved by voters.

▪ Install upgraded camera systems at schools.

“We come to you tonight with a request none of us would have thought we needed when we went to school,” Pearce told county commissioners on Monday. “Unfortunately, times have changed, and a next-level commitment to making our students and staff safe while on our campuses is a must.”

Scanners at every school

Johnston County is paying $6.2 million to install 54 Express scanners from Evolv Technology at every school main entrance. The devices are already used in every Charlotte-Mecklenburg high school and are also being installed in the district’s middle schools, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

The Express scanner includes two towers and a floor mat, which create a “zone of detection.” When a person walks through that zone, sensors use ultra-low-frequency electromagnetic fields to scan for concealed items that the device has been trained to recognize as weapons.

The new scanners have helped CMS detect weapons at schools, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

But internal CMS emails obtained by The Charlotte Observer also showed that the detectors have created logistical problems. The body scanners were sounding the alarm on three-ring binders and other personal items, creating delays and overwhelming school staff at one school.

‘Keep our public safe’

The Johnston County school board and commissioners have had an occasionally rocky relationship when it comes to funding. For instance, commissioners withheld $7.9 million last year until the school board approved new rules that limit how teachers can discuss history and racism in their classrooms.

But school board members and commissioners said there was no disagreement on funding the school safety upgrades.

“There’s nothing more important that we do than keep our public safe, and our children certainly are of the highest priority,” Patrick Harris, vice chairman of the Board of Commissioners, said Monday.

School board member Lyn Andrews said it was never even a question that commissioners would approve the safety funding.

“I cannot thank them enough for the fact that when we sat down with them and talked about this, they made it happen because they understood how important it was,” Andrews said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.