COASTAL OBSERVER

In the wake of a loaded gun being found inside Carvers Bay Middle STEAM Academy last month, the Georgetown County School District has deployed weapons detection systems to be used every day at all eight of its middle and high schools.

Superintendent Keith Price hopes the the district’s efforts will be a “deterrent” to a person thinking about bringing a weapon inside a school.

“There’s no 100 percent guarantee that nothing could happen, nothing will get in,” Price said. “It’s just trying to put these things in place to ensure we’re as safe as we can possibly be until more items or more measures come to our attention. It’s something that we’re always monitoring and always reviewing.”

In the past, metal detectors would be used occasionally at the schools, both when students were arriving and at sporting events. 

The district bought the weapons detection systems last summer and has used them ever since, though not on a daily basis.

The schools experimented with the systems before the fall break. All eight had them in place Monday morning.

At Waccamaw High, the last student passed through a checkpoint at the front doors at 8:32 a.m. and in the gym four minutes later. Classes start at 8:30.

“I told the students I’d give them this week and I want them to continue to adapt their times,” principal David Hammel said. “Then we’re going to start marking tardies and we’re going to plan to have extra people to see how quickly we can get them through.”

Students have to remove laptops and three-ring binders from backpacks before going through the scanners. Hammel thinks the process will speed up when students get used to that.

Price encourages parents and guardians to adjust their routine and drop students off a little earlier. 

“If you’re worried about not getting to class on time or getting a tardy consequence, we open our doors really early at our middle and high schools to help people avoid that,” Price said.

There are also two points of entry for students at Waccamaw Middle. Principal Ginny Haynes is concerned about having enough staff to oversee the checkpoints every morning and supervise students inside  the school.

“We’ve got 350 students and it’s tough. We definitely want our students to be safe, we want our school building to be safe, but we don’t have the manpower,” Haynes said. “I don’t think anybody is arguing about safety for our students and our employees.”

Hammel, worked checkpoints while teaching at Georgetown High last year, is also concerned about staffing.

“I know the feeling, and how hard it was, to run a metal detector for an hour and then go teach,” he said. “But my teachers have been very resilient.”

Students are allowed to arrive at middle and high schools at 7:30 a.m., but teachers are not required to be on campus until 8 a.m.

Price said the district may look at paying teachers and support staff to come in early on the days they work a checkpoint. 

“It helps us to provide a larger blanket of security,” he added.

The gun found at Carvers Bay Middle was the most serious safety incident in the district this year, but not the only one.

In the first 10 weeks of school this year there have been 55 incidents reported to sheriff’s office, more than double the same period last year.

Price attributed that increase to a combination of more things happening and more things being reported.

“In many of these incidents that we’ve investigated and then gotten the sherif’s office involved, this has been from our students and our families sharing information with us,” he said. “They’re one of our best deterrent resources. I think they’re growing weary of some of the actions that have been happening.”

At least 10 schools outside of the city of Georgetown, including Waccamaw Middle, Waccamaw High and Coastal Montessori Charter have had incidents reported to law enforcement. (The city’s police reports were unavailable at press time.)

Incidents of threats included a 5-year-old telling classmates that he would kill them; a 12-year-old telling a classmate, who declined his offer of a date, “I will kill you and rape your dead body”; and a 13-year-old saying he was going to bomb the school.

Along with intimidation, which is how threats are classified, other charges included simple assault, which is usually fighting; possession of pornography; extortion/blackmail; possession of weapons, which would include knives; larceny; possession of drugs; and assault by mob.

In at least 15 cases, the students were disciplined by the school. About a dozen other students were issued a juvenile summons and their cases sent to the solicitor’s office. 

Price said some of the issues students have with each other start on social media or outside of school and then continue at school.

Since the pandemic, discipline has been an issue in schools all over the country, he added.

But, the superintendent believes when a student makes a mistake, it’s a teachable moment.

“It’s not just a time to issue a consequence,” Price said. “It should be a time to talk to a student about the choice that they made and help them learn from their mistakes so that they will better equipped to make different choices the next time.”