Schenectady parents sample security systems | News

After the school board on Sept. 30 approved a plan to purchase gun detection systems for the district’s high school and three middle schools, Deyne decided to attend a security fair held Thursday in the high school’s cafeteria that brought together eight security vendors to show off potential systems detection that the district can purchase.

“I am a supporter of gun detection because of what has happened in recent weeks,” Deyne said. “I wanted to see what they would offer me.”

The district plans to gather community feedback on Thursday about detection systems ranging from camera systems to airport security-style bag screening technology, with plans to roll out the systems over the holiday break.

“It’s a shame it didn’t happen before everything that happened, but better late than never,” Deyne said. “It’s a shame things didn’t move a little further before Christmas, but it’s already happening.”

Deyne said she has three children in the district and the family took their daughter out of high school and homeschooled her after she feared for her safety following the Sept. 17 stabbing incident.

Two students were stabbed at school during an argument on September 17. The incident occurred after a series of fights that took place at the school a few weeks earlier, just before the start of the new school year.

“She still feels traumatized and has a lot of anxiety,” Deyne said.

Deyne’s daughter attended Thursday’s security fair to see the detection systems the district is working on.

The district sent out a survey to participants asking which of the security systems presented at the fair they liked best. The district will analyze community feedback before proceeding with the bidding process to purchase potential systems.

“We want to gather information from our community to make an informed decision going forward,” Superintendent Carlos Cotto Jr. said Thursday.

He said the district will host community roundtables to gather further feedback on future gun detection systems.

“We’re new at this,” Cotto said. “There have always been cases of metal detection and things that you might see during TSA screening at the airport. Therefore, our goal was to use as many organizations as possible that provide weapons control and detection devices and create a space where the community could learn what these types of specific devices are used for.”

The district obtained a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to purchase detection technology, with the grant giving the district three years to implement the systems.

District Climate and Safety Director Jeffrey Russo said all vendors participating in the safety fair conducted site visits to city schools on Thursday to survey for potential installation of each system.

“We know there is no single, foolproof solution,” he said. “We know that each of them has their flaws. We want to weigh the costs against the benefits and just try to choose the perfect option for us.”

Russo said the security fair was intended to give the community a hands-on look at security technology and explain security systems, which mostly resemble those found in shopping malls or soccer fields.

“We have done a lot of research over the last 10 months as the district safety committee, using community feedback,” Russo said. “I think it hit home that there are a lot of options and I wanted to put all the options next to each other and let people look at them. I think by putting them next to each other, people will be able to compare the experience of walking through one of the machines.”

Board of Education Chairwoman Bernice Rivera said the board will consider different systems in the coming weeks.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for the community to see things that we might be able to buy,” Rivera said. “I think it’s very important that our community speaks out about the gun detection system.”

Stacy Pucillo of Xtract One demonstrated a security system that will allow school security to check bags for weapons using artificial intelligence technology. The system was recently installed at Bowie State University in Maryland.

Pucillo said the regional security trade show was a unique event because it brought together a wide range of security vendors in one place.

“It’s really amazing,” Pucillo said. “I really appreciate that the school district did this because a lot of times you go to the school district and demonstrate your system, but for the district to bring all the technology they have is great. Technology is not universal. What is right in one neighborhood may not be right in another neighborhood. So I think it’s great that they’re doing their due diligence to see what will work best for their environment.”

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