A pilot program that involves a new security measure at a local school is causing students to be late in class, and it is creating quite a headache for parents and school staff.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools early this month installed a new, high-tech metal detector at Cordova High School in Memphis, Tennessee to replace their old one. The initiative aims to promote safety, yet the long queue of students outside the school is making them late, parents complained.
Carolyn Cerda, anchor and reporter of Fox 13 Memphis, captured the long line of students waiting outside the school premises, and snaking out of its parking lot, and posted the photos on Twitter.
Cordova High School Principal, Barton Thorne, then confirmed that the "backup" was due to the new metal detector, which is part of the pilot program with the school district in creating "a more robust security process."
Come to school earlier
"With the tragedies that we see across the nation, our number one priority is always student safety. The technology before did not allow us to scan every single student. So now, every person who comes into our building is scanned for weapons, and that's all students, all staff, all visitors. So that creates a little bit of a change for us. We're having to adjust to that and we're working on our process and making them more efficient," Thorne expressed, asking for a little bit of patience and consideration from students and parents.
With regards to the complaints on tardiness, the principal assured parents that they are addressing the issue. He emphasized that no tardy slips were given to students during the first week of the pilot program.
However, to those students who received tardy slips after the first week of implementation, Thorne promised the parents that they are handling them with consideration and strategies to be more efficient are at work. They are providing passes for students who make it in line by the time school starts.
The principal, though, is encouraging parents to make their students live home a bit earlier to adjust for the new process, Fox 13 Memphis reported.
He said that the school building opens at 6:45 in the morning, and by then, there is no waiting line. They observed the process and found that between 6:45 to 7:05 AM, students walk straight into the school building through the new security machine. The queue started to build up at 7:10 AM.
Further, Thorne assured parents that if their children arrive early at school, they can either go to the gym as they wait for classes, or in the cafeteria for a free breakfast.
Better safe than sorry
While most parents are complaining, there is also a group of parents that totally understands and appreciates what the school is doing for their children, especially that their safety is being prioritized.
According to Yahoo News, parent Charard Bienaime expressed that this kind of security measures should be done, especially with today's kids. It is so much better to be safe than sorry,
Bienaime stated that the new system is expected to cause some kind of problem. The important thing is the school is trying to settle the situation.
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