By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Beaufort County School District recently took measures to try and make their high schools a little safer.
According to the district, weapons detection systems were to be installed in all public high schools during the first week of December.
The system that is being used is called the CEIA OPENGATE system and has two freestanding pillars that allow for backpacks and bags to be screened as all students and visitors enter the building.
The first school to try the system was Beaufort High School on Wednesday, Dec. 3, when it was installed at the school. Students were asked to remove any metal items such as tablets or laptops from their backpacks before going through the system.
The devices will be used all day long during the school day and during any extracurricular events like sports games or concerts.
Cost for the devices is $600,000, and that money was to be taken from the remaining funds of the $345 million 2019 referendum. Operating costs for the 2025-2026 academic year for the district will be $425,000.
Each of the security devices will be manned by a security guard hired by an outside firm and the cost of the guards accounts for most of the yearly operational costs.
The Beaufort County Board of Education members voted unanimously to approve the purchase of the security systems during their Oct. 21, meeting.
According to the school district, the decision was a proactive step to enhance school safety and was not in response to any specific incidents.
The security devices are designed to detect a large range of metal items, including knives, micro-pistols and high-caliber assault weapons, per CEIA USA’s website.
The hope is that the devices will detect weapons while allowing personal items such as keys and phones to pass through without causing any major delays.
Firearms and knives with blades over 2 inches are prohibited at Beaufort County public schools and on school property, of which the high schools have the most violations that often end in criminal charges.
Beaufort high schools have had several incidents, particularly with knives, over the past school year.
Before the weapons detectors were installed, weapons were often discovered by students and teachers reporting suspicious activity to the student resource officer or administrators of if a student’s belongings needs to be checked for an unrelated incident.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
