One year after implementing weapon scanners in middle and high schools, Prince William County Public Schools is making steady progress toward its safety and security goals.
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One year after implementing weapon scanners in middle and high schools, Prince William County Public Schools is making steady progress toward its safety and security goals, department staff told school board members at an Oct. 16 meeting. told the meeting.
Officials outlined several safety protocols and programs currently in place and to be implemented to improve school safety.
Evolv and other physical security measures
One of the major security projects implemented last year was the Evolv weapon detection scanner.
A year after installing scanners at middle and high schools, the department said the investment appears to have proven its worth.
As of September 30, there were zero firearms reported, and six “other” weapons (three knives, two box cutters, and an air gun (such as a paintball or airsoft gun) found in a student’s car). )) It was.
There were zero firearms reported for the entire 2023-24 fiscal year, and “other” weapons decreased by 72% from the previous year.
“It’s a pretty good ROI on these Evolv scanners. I know there was some concern in the community about whether it was a good investment, but we’ve collected data that shows it’s a good investment. “It looks like it’s happening,” Gainesville District School Board Member Jen Wall said.
The department also had a scanner pass rate of 92%, which means 92% of students passed the scanner without any problems. Ron Crow, director of the Security and Emergency Response Bureau, said the national average clearance rate is in the mid-80s.
The department expanded the use of the scanner to home football games this year, and Crowe said there were no hiccups other than minor connectivity issues, which have been resolved. Evolv scanners will also be installed at home basketball games this year.
The department has introduced a number of new physical security measures over the past several years.
One of the recent projects completed by the department was the installation of a Knox box that allows public safety personnel to access the master key and mini-safe on the outside of the building should they need to enter the school.
Updates are also being made to the school’s security cameras and wireless systems. The department spent about 20 months installing about $7 million worth of camera equipment.
The department is upgrading megahertz radios, including all portable radios in schools and buses. The upgrade project, which will cost about $3.7 million, is expected to be completed next year, Crowe said.
Upgrades to access control systems are also being made at schools across the county. So far, security teams have completed upgrades at 50 schools and seven central offices.
Also this school year, the department opened a Security Operations Center to serve as a single operational node for school division security reporting. This center generates domain awareness, monitors complex operations, and manages critical incidents.
“We are hiring highly qualified individuals for these positions,” Crow said, noting that the former executive director of the Transportation Security Administration’s Major Operations Center now runs the school division’s Security Operations Center. I’m lucky to live in an area where this is possible.”
Until the end of September, the Security Operations Center had the following structure:
Managed 194 events Send 240 incident alert messages Received 591 calls
The top three events managed by frequency are:
Medical Emergency/EMS Response Threats to the school, usually via social media Neighborhood police activity, need to secure school until neighborhood police incident is resolved Programs and training
The school system is also implementing several new programs and training to support school safety.
New this year, the department created the School Security Officer Cohort, a one-year cohort of 23 school security officers for aspiring leaders.
“We have…more than doubled the number of school security guards in the last two years, and we want to provide them with leadership training so they can advance and aim for higher levels. “I think so,” Crowe said.
The department is also conducting a pilot program for e-cigarette detectors at seven schools in the county this year. The program will launch this year in three middle schools, three high schools and one non-traditional school.
Crowe said many of these schools already have some processes in place related to the subject, but the department is looking at data to assess whether to move the program department-wide. He said he wanted to create a formal pilot program with a common strategy across the school. .
“The main impact of this and as we were looking at this issue is that kids don’t want to go to the bathroom because of what’s going on there,” Crowe said. “We need to get people out of there so they can use it (the bathroom) for whatever they need to do.”
Several school board members expressed support for the pilot, noting they had heard community complaints about students vaping in school bathrooms.
“What you just acknowledged about restrooms is how most of us feel about school restrooms and we hear about them all the time,” said Woodbridge District School Board Director Laurie Williams.
Brentsville District Councilwoman Erica Tredinnick said she is excited about the e-cigarette detector and wants it to be available “everywhere.”
Although no data was provided, Vernon Bock, the school division’s chief operating officer, told the school board that the number of vaping incidents is down this year, in part due to the Evolv scanner. He said this is because it acts as a deterrent.
Another of the department’s safety goals is for 100% of schools to receive crisis management training. As of Oct. 15, 45 schools had completed the drill, and 18 other schools had completed their crisis drills.
Crowe also emphasized that guards, especially first-year guards, receive extensive training.
“If you are a first-year school security officer in Prince William County Schools, you receive 80 hours of training the first year and 30 hours of follow-up every other year,” Crow said. “I know it’s the best in the state, but I don’t know if it’s not the best in the country.”
