Fulton parents want elementary school resource officers, metal detectors at high schools

Parents want to know when Fulton County elementary schools will get resource officers and why the school district doesn’t use metal detectors at its high schools.

A community meeting hosted by Fulton County Schools board member Michelle Morancie began with a discussion about school security and safety by FCS Chief of Staff Cliff Jones in the wake of the Apalachee High School shooting.

A Sandy Springs parent asked when the school district will take security seriously by assigning resource officers to the district’s elementary schools.

Jones said FCS is looking at every security measure, including putting resources officers at elementary schools.

Another parent said they had metal detectors at her New York high school when she was a child. Students felt safe as a result.

Jones said the school district has 12 units of the Evolve concealed weapons detector. Those units get moved around the school district as staff looks at recommendations.

“To your point, safety is a feeling. And if we don’t feel safe, we can’t learn. We can’t do school,” Jones said.

Jones said a day after the Apalachee High shooting, FCS began seeing threats against against the district’s schools online. FCS has a shared tip line that brought in more than 250 threats since the Apalachee shooting. All were investigated, Jones said.

Superintendent Mike Looney introduced the district’s new campaign, “Report, don’t repost,” at the school board’s Sept. 20 meeting. He said social media and anonymous threats impact every school in the district.

Looney said an FCS high school went into hard lockdown with the report of a gun. A student brought a BB gun into the school. Administrators didn’t know the type of gun when the lockdown began.

He asked parents to talk to their children about social media use and having cell phones in schools. Looney wants them to report information, not repeat it online.

“Do not make it worse by posting inaccurate information online. We cannot let social media, cell phones in schools, and reposting false information wreak havoc in our district. We must work together to keep our schools safe,” Looney said.

FCS installed Avigilon security camera systems in every school and district building. School leaders and staff members’ cell phones have the CrisisGo communications tool loaded. Every school district employee, including bus drivers, wears crisis alert badges. The number of presses on the badge signals what type of emergency is happening.

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