New weapons detection system to be implemented in Lee County schools

A new weapons detection system will be used in schools across Lee County.

It’s made by Opengate Technology and will be installed in 16 schools by the start of the 2023 school year.

One system is going live on Thursday at Bonita Springs High School for tests.

David Newlan, Lee County School’s Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Management told WINK News that the weapons detection system pinpoints weapons and other contraband in students’ backpacks, bags and purses before they get into the school.

This is meant to reassure teachers, students and parents that they can simply worry about learning rather than their safety.

Here’s how the system works: students will walk through the front entrance, take their Chromebooks out of their backpacks and hand them to school staff before they walk through the weapons detection system.

Laptops set off the system and so do any type of metal with the same density as a weapon, like an umbrella. Those items are handed back to the student if they walk through with a green light.

This was WINK News’ first opportunity to talk with Newlan about the security breakdown at Fort Myers High School near the end of the last school year.

The district refused to make the chief or the superintendent available after a homeless man squeezed through a security fence, then walked through an open door of the school and spent hours in the building before leaving. No one ever noticed.

It turns out that the school’s alarm system was not set that night either. It was a human error.

WINK News asked Newlan if there is a human error element to this new weapons detection system too.

“It starts with the school district, obviously our employees, but it’s hard to answer a question based on what could happen,” Newlan said. “All I can tell you is there’s always human error, no matter what you do. There’s never a guarantee.”

But parents and students had nothing to do with leaving a school door unlocked and failing to set an alarm.

Newlan believes that with training, which school staff must go through, this new system will prevent weapons from getting into school buildings.

The district said that the weapon detectors will be in all Lee County elementary, middle and high schools by the end of 2024.

And if you’re wondering who’s paying, it’s tax payers, supported by dollars from the state legislature.