High schools increase security
Graduation ceremonies to include metal detectors, bag searches
Parents and guests attending South Florida’s high school graduation ceremonies will have to go through metal detectors to gain admission this year.
The metal detectors will be deployed in Palm Beach County for the first time. Broward and Miami-Dade counties have used them at previous commencements.
Security personnel also will search bags and use wands for secondary screenings at the ceremonies in all three counties.
Palm Beach County’s commencements begin today. MiamiDade and Broward graduations begin May 29.
In Broward, the school district decided to move the graduations of its largest high schools, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Cypress Bay, to the BB&T Center on June 2 to accommodate expected large crowds. But the plan calls for the center to be the site of Stoneman Douglas graduations only through 2021, so all students who were at the school during the massacre can invite as many family members and friends as they choose. In 2022, the school’s commencements are expected to return to the smaller Nova Southeastern University Rick Case Arena.
The Broward school district included metal detectors and extra security in its cost projections, with graduations at six sites expected to total $423,795.
That’s similar to Palm Beach County’s expected costs of $400,000. Most of the county’s commencements will be at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach.
In Palm Beach County, there are three more days of ceremonies than last year. The school district said these were necessary so there would be fewer graduations on each day, allowing more time for long lines likely to be created by the metal detectors.
In previous years, there were
as many as four ceremonies in a single day. This year, the maximum is three per day.
Parents said they appreciated the additional security measures as they lamented the need for them.
“Honestly, in light of the myriad of school shootings, I feel relieved and comforted that there will be detectors,” said Ellari Mirabel, of Delray Beach, whose daughter, Mia Evans, will graduate from Dreyfoos School of the Arts. “It is a sad state of affairs but unfortunately they are necessary for the safety of the graduates as well as all those there.”
Parent Susan Petosa said she wished there was as much security at her son’s high school, Spanish River in Boca Raton.
“I’m happy that the district is taking preventative measures at graduation. I support any efforts
to protect our students,” she said. “I wish they would put more effort into updating and protecting the students at older schools, like Spanish River.”
Graduation guests in Palm Beach County will have their bags checked before they walk through one of eight metal detectors and may have their bodies inspected by a wand if the detector finds a questionable object.
Twenty school district police officers and Sheriff’s deputies also will be on site at the fairgrounds.
Students and faculty do not have to pass through the detectors, said Eric Stern, the Palm Beach County district’s graduation administrator. In Broward, students and staff, as well as guests, will go through metal detectors, a district spokeswoman said.