This school year, Chapman has placed weapon detection systems at the main entrances of the school to help combat local and country-wide school safety concerns. 

Beginning in 2023, a new state bill discussing weapon detection systems in schools was introduced to the South Carolina General Assembly.

A total of $552,000 was given to Chapman for general safety improvement. 

The weapon detection systems cost roughly $440,000 of that money, coming from the School Safety Grant Proviso 1.81 provided by the South Carolina Department of Education. 

School Resource Officer Kyle Rios explained that the system is called OpenGate and that it looks for specific metals in a weapon.

“It scans vertically, and as you walk through, it’s trying to detect specific metals that would go into a gun,” he said.

According to this 2023-2024 Weapons Detector Systems in School Act, “All persons entering public school buildings and athletic venues when entering the buildings or venues must be screened by qualified personnel before entry may be allowed.”

According to Assistant Principal Carrie Forrest, this created a necessary transitional period for students and staff.

“The challenges are just learning how it’s going to delay student entrance into the building and how we as administration have to be placed in different (entrances) around the building throughout the day, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons,” she said.

One of the challenges was staffing the systems. Because students arrive early, people have to be at the systems as early as 7 a.m.

Physical education teacher Barbara Lansing is one of the teachers who has volunteered to keep the process running smoothly. 

“Most of the kids seem to be responding very well,” said Lansing.

However, these machines were a big learning curve for some students. 

“It was frustrating,” said freshman Elaine Walker. “I felt kind of claustrophobic because there were so many people in the hallway (and in line).”

Those in charge of this process knew it wouldn’t go perfectly right away. 

“It was a trial run to see how different (metals) might trigger it,” Rios said. “Everyone wears certain metals and have different things in their binders and backpacks that might (set it off). After students came in, we (were) trying to see what (sensitivity) setting works.”

The setting found to be the most functional was called the International Basic School Setting.

Chapman has also added two security guards, Montez Hunter and Shamon Martin, at the student driver and office entrances to help increase security and minimize threats, as well as multiple police officers to facilitate the new procedure. 

In an effort to make these machines less intimidating, Chapman has played music in the mornings and customized them with banners, maintaining the welcoming environment Principal Matt Davis wants to achieve. 

“It’s the world we live in (now), “ Davis said. “When I was in school, there were no cops. When I first started teaching, there were (still) no cops in schools. Now, we have (more) capability and we see things from a different perspective.”

According to the Washington Post, “more than 378,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since (1999),” an unfortunately high number. 

“(When) you walk in the school, you expect it to be safe,” Davis said. “Getting (our students) home safe is number one, and if we can’t do it, then we’ve screwed everything else up. Safety comes first, and everything else falls after that.”

The conversation around school safety is particularly relevant given recent events. 

Last week, two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. The school had recently installed an alert system but not a weapon detection system.

Rios said that having a weapon detection system in place can help with safety, but that it’s not a guarantee without cooperation from everyone.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t have weapon detection systems,” he said. “We do, but that still doesn’t mean that we’re (100%) safe. It’s up to everybody to ensure that we maintain safety (protocols).”

Safety, he added, goes beyond just having multiple weapon detection systems:

“(This) doesn’t mean that we have (detectors) at every single access point in the school. It’s up to the staff and the students (as well) to be diligent about who’s coming in these buildings.”