Hardin County Schools is piloting a new measure to improve the safety of its students and staff.On Friday, a weapons detection system was implemented at Central Hardin High School, for a one-day trial. Though the district is not seeing an increase in weapons, officials say this is a proactive effort to ensure school safety.“There’s no way to keep students too safe, this is just another measuring stick,” John Wright, director of public relations for Hardin County Schools, said.The district is testing out Evolv Express, a sensor that uses artificial intelligence to distinguish everyday items from threats, such as guns and pipe bombs.The multi-million-dollar technology is popular at NFL stadiums and amusement parks and will soon be utilized at Jefferson County Public Schools.It’s not a metal detector or an X-ray, and it does not use facial recognition, but students, staff and visitors walk through the kiosk with all their belongings.If a weapon is present, it alarms the system. A photo of the person is shown on a tablet connected to the system, with a red box around the area of the possible weapon. A staff member will then conduct a search of that indicated area.School officials say “possible weapon” because there are some nuisance items that the technology may confuse as a danger.“We asked students to take out their 3-ring binders and their Chromebooks, but when you’re bringing in 1,800 students to a building sometimes that message doesn’t get heard by as many people as you’d like,” Wright said. According to Wright, Friday’s testing of Evol Express resulted in an 11% alarm rate. But no weapons were detected.Guests will also see the system at Central Hardin’s home football game Friday night. School officials say it’s all a part of their mission to maintain a weapons-free campus.“Has something ever slipped by us and been in a school building that we didn’t know about? We all would have our head in the sand if we thought it hasn’t happened, and it’s probably happened at every school in America,” Wright said. “Hopefully, this will catch everything.”The district says using the system for this trial period was for school leaders to see its effectiveness.No decision has been made about officially installing it in the future, but if given the green light, it will only be implemented at high schools.
Hardin County Schools is piloting a new measure to improve the safety of its students and staff.
On Friday, a weapons detection system was implemented at Central Hardin High School, for a one-day trial. Though the district is not seeing an increase in weapons, officials say this is a proactive effort to ensure school safety.
“There’s no way to keep students too safe, this is just another measuring stick,” John Wright, director of public relations for Hardin County Schools, said.
The district is testing out Evolv Express, a sensor that uses artificial intelligence to distinguish everyday items from threats, such as guns and pipe bombs.
The multi-million-dollar technology is popular at NFL stadiums and amusement parks and will soon be utilized at Jefferson County Public Schools.
It’s not a metal detector or an X-ray, and it does not use facial recognition, but students, staff and visitors walk through the kiosk with all their belongings.
If a weapon is present, it alarms the system. A photo of the person is shown on a tablet connected to the system, with a red box around the area of the possible weapon. A staff member will then conduct a search of that indicated area.
School officials say “possible weapon” because there are some nuisance items that the technology may confuse as a danger.
“We asked students to take out their 3-ring binders and their Chromebooks, but when you’re bringing in 1,800 students to a building sometimes that message doesn’t get heard by as many people as you’d like,” Wright said.
According to Wright, Friday’s testing of Evol Express resulted in an 11% alarm rate. But no weapons were detected.
Guests will also see the system at Central Hardin’s home football game Friday night. School officials say it’s all a part of their mission to maintain a weapons-free campus.
“Has something ever slipped by us and been in a school building that we didn’t know about? We all would have our head in the sand if we thought it hasn’t happened, and it’s probably happened at every school in America,” Wright said. “Hopefully, this will catch everything.”
The district says using the system for this trial period was for school leaders to see its effectiveness.
No decision has been made about officially installing it in the future, but if given the green light, it will only be implemented at high schools.
