Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Metal detectors to boost security
Palm Beach County graduations will have added level of safety
It’s become standard operating procedure for entering many public places: a walk through a metal detector. Now Palm Beach County graduation ceremonies can be added to the list of communal sites getting an extra level of security.
The School Board agreed on Wednesday to spend $400,000 on May graduations, $100,000 more than last year, to cover additional security costs as well as three additional days of ceremonies at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach. These extra days were necessary so there would be fewer gradu-
ations on each day, allowing more time for long lines likely to be created by the metal detectors.
Graduation dates and times for each high school have not yet been announced. But in previous years, there were as many as four graduations each day in the fairgrounds auditorium, offering only a short break between one school’s graduation and the next. The district has conducted graduation ceremonies at the fairgrounds since 2012.
“We are spreading out the times,” said Keith Oswald, the school district’s deputy superintendent. “The metal detectors will provide another level of security. Anytime we up the level of security, we get a lot of public support.”
Palm Beach County schools have increased security on several levels since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in February
in Parkland:
Each of the 179 schools in the district has at least one police officer.
Visitors have to show their drivers’ licenses to security cameras before they can enter school offices.
Parking lots have been redesigned to limit access to strangers.
There are also new fences, security cameras, door locks and alarms.
Oswald said the district continues to assess security risks, and decided to implement metal detectors at graduation for the first time this spring. Graduation guests will have their bags checked before they walk through the metal detector and may have their bodies inspected by a wand if the detector finds a questionable object.
Oswald said school police and Sheriff ’s deputies will be on site. He said it hasn’t been determined how many metal detectors there will be and whether graduating students will also have to pass through.
Madi Fox, a senior graduating
from West Boca High School, said she understands the need for the metal detectors but wonders how much safer they will make her graduation.
“I have a very real fear of a school shooting,” Fox said. “Part of me thinks the metal detectors are necessary, but it makes me think of (airport metal detectors), which I think provide a false sense of security.”
Nan Berkowitz, who will attend her granddaughter’s graduation from Park Vista High School, said she accepts metal detectors as a fact of contemporary life.
“You never can tell if, God forbid, someone comes in who isn’t connected to graduation or has a beef with a teacher,” Berkowitz said. “At such a beautiful, momentous occasion, people may think it’s a perfect time to make a statement.”
Oswald said graduation dates will be released later this week.