COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Richland Two Safety Committee discussed a few aspects of school safety in a meeting Monday, addressing everything from cyber security to building protections.
The district's safety and security office says new tools are coming.
"Right now we have a major upgrade that's coming close to completion and I'll be happy about that. The cameras and the system itself can do a lot of tremendous things. It deals with analytics and has all kinds of special features. We have high-resolution cameras coming," said Office of Safety and Security leader, Marq Claxton.
A big point of discussion was the metal detector pop-ups that have been happening throughout the district.
The safety committee says they have seen some measurable success so far.
"We were able to stop a student from getting ready to go inside Richland Northeast with a loaded weapon, so I think we're on the right track," explained Dr. Monica Scott.
A student from Richland Northeast High School attended Monday's meeting and says the pop-ups are a good effort but says she's noticed some holes in the system.
"You could just go through the metal detector at the beginning of the day and that's just at one point in time," said Lillian Mirosavich. "But, what if a student sees it and thinks 'Oh I'll come back in half an hour or an hour'. It doesn't have continuity... so what if they decide to come in a little later and they have a gun, are you still going to check for any kind of weapon?"
The district has been discussing possibly adding permanent metal detectors to schools but in the midst of their budget season, that idea is on hold.
Instead, the safety committee will propose at least 180 pop-ups being performed throughout the school year at all the district's high schools. The safety committee will also hold a town hall in the next few months to get community input on safety concerns.
The full school board will come together Tuesday for a special called board meeting at 3 p.m.