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A year after implementing weapons scanners at middle and high schools, Prince William County Public Schools is making steady progress on its safety and security goals, division staff told the School Board at its Oct. 16 meeting.
Staff members outlined a number of safety protocols and programs that are being implemented — and some coming down the road — that are helping make schools more secure.
Evolv and other physical security measures
One major security project that was implemented last school year was the Evolv weapon detection scanners.
A year removed from installation of the scanners in middle and high schools, the division said the investment appears to have proven worth it.
As of Sept. 30, there were zero firearms reported and six “other” weapons: three knives, two box cutters and a pneumatic gun found in a student’s vehicle, meaning something like a paintball or airsoft gun.
Zero firearms were reported during the entire 2023-24 school year, and “other” weapons went down 72% from the year prior.
“That’s a pretty good ROI on these Evolv scanners. I know there was some concern in the community about whether that was going to be a good investment — seems like we are gathering some data to show that it is,” Gainesville District School Board Member Jenn Wall said.
The division also has a 92% clearance rate with the scanners, meaning 92% of students walk through the scanners without incident. Ron Crowe, director of the Security and Crisis Readiness Department, said the average national clearance rates are in the mid-80s.
The division expanded use of the scanners this year to home football games, where Crowe said there have been no disruptions other than minor connectivity issues, which were resolved. Evolv scanners will also be implemented at home varsity basketball games this year.
The division has implemented a number of new physical security measures over the last several years.
One project the division recently completed was the installation of Knox Boxes, which give access to master keys and small safes on the outside of the buildings for public safety officials should they need to enter the school.
Upgrades are also being done to school security cameras and radio systems. The division is installing about $7 million worth of camera equipment over a roughly 20-month period.
The division is upgrading the megahertz radios, which includes all the handheld radios in schools and on buses. The upgrade project, which costs around $3.7 million, will be completed next year, Crowe said.
Access control system upgrades are also being done to schools across the county; so far, the security team has completed upgrades at 50 schools and seven central offices.
Also this school year, the division opened a security operations center, which serves as the single operational node for the school division’s security reporting. The center generates domain awareness, monitors complex operations and manages critical incidents.
“We are fortunate to live in an area where we can hire highly qualified people for these positions,” Crowe said, noting that the former executive director for the Transportation Security Administration’s main operations center is now running the school division’s security operations center.
Through the end of September, the security operations center had:
- 194 events managed
- 240 incident alert messages sent
- 591 calls received
The top three events managed by frequency were:
- Medical emergency/EMS response
- School threat, typically via social media
- Police activity in the vicinity, needing to secure schools until nearby police event is cleared
Programs and training
The school system is also implementing several new programs and training to support school safety.
New this school year, the division created an aspiring leaders school security officer cohort, a yearlong cohort made up of 23 school security officers.
“We’ve … over doubled our number of school security officers over the last two years, and we’re looking to provide leadership training to them so they can move up and aspire to a higher level,” Crowe said.
The division is also implementing this year a vape detector pilot program at seven schools across the county. The program will kick off this year at three middle schools, three high schools and a nontraditional school.
A number of those schools, Crowe said, already had some processes in place related to the subject, but the division wanted to create a formal pilot program with common strategies across the schools to look at data and assess whether to move the program division-wide.
“My main effect of this and when we were looking at this is kids don’t want to go in bathrooms because of what’s going on there,” Crowe said. “We need to get people out of there so people can use those [bathrooms] for what they’re needed for.”
Several School Board members expressed support for the pilot, noting the community frustration they’ve heard about students vaping in school bathrooms.
“What you acknowledged about the bathrooms is what most of us feel about bathrooms in schools and we hear often,” Woodbridge District School Board Member Loree Williams said.
Erica Tredinnick, the Brentsville District member, said she was excited about the vape detectors and that she’d like them “everywhere.”
While no data was provided, school division Chief Operating Officer Vernon Bock told the School Board vaping incidents are down by the numbers this year, in part, he said, because of the Evolv scanners acting as a deterrent.
Another one of the division’s safety goals is for 100% of schools to receive crisis management training. As of Oct. 15, 45 schools had completed training, and 18 other crisis trainings were completed.
Crowe also emphasized the extensive training school security officers receive, particularly first-year officers.
“If you’re a first-year school security officer in Prince William County Schools, you’re going to get 80 hours of training in your first year and 30 hours following up every other year,” Crowe said. “I know that’s the best in state and I’m not so sure it’s not the best in the country.”
