Security, tech experts skeptical about metal detectors in schools

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The School District of Palm Beach County made a multimillion-dollar investment in the name of safety last year. But as other school districts, like Broward County, look to Palm Beach County to launch their own metal detector programs, experts warn that the technology does not necessarily make schools safer.

"For what's been going around in other states and stuff, I feel like it makes the school environment safer," Stephania Emmanuel, a student at Boynton Beach Community High School said Feb. 15, the first-day students at the school passed through metal detectors on their way to class.

Students that morning told WPTV education reporter Stephanie Susskind that the process of passing through metal detectors was fast and easy. School administrators said the same.

Since approving a contract worth more than $2 million, Palm Beach County Schools has outfitted 12 of its 24 high schools with portable metal detectors that can be rolled away when not in use.