Division updates safety investments: weapons screening, vape detectors and county-wide radio linkage

Halifax County Public Schools staff told the board that the division has expanded physical and communications safety measures at schools over recent years, installing weapons-detection units, vape detectors and a two-way emergency radio system and completing training and digital mapping to aid emergency responders.

Mister Lewis outlined a multi-year program of safety upgrades. He said the division installed its first weapons-detection units at the middle school and high school in mid-2023 and followed with elementary installations later that year; the program now includes multiple, transferable weapons-detection units and vape detectors at the secondary schools. "With our units, our CWD units, we've currently scanned, 1,200,000, almost 1,300,000 visitors," Lewis told the board, describing daily averages and peak hourly use.

Lewis also reported that the division has placed a two-way emergency radio system linking schools to county 911 and that high-school radios have been upgraded to digital; he said the county donated part of the radio project and grant funding supplemented the rest so every school now has at least one radio connection to 911. The division has also digital-mapped school interiors for first responders and trained contracted security officers in de-escalation tactics.

Board members asked about results from the division's disciplinary referrals and safety audits. Lewis said the division has seen a 28% reduction in the number of students brought before the disciplinary committee from the first semester last year to the first semester this year.

Lewis said further small safety projects are funded or pending, including secure vestibules at additional elementary schools and fencing at Sinai and South Boston elementary sites, and that the division will continue to integrate school safety audits and climate surveys across all buildings.