Community members urge Cumberland County Schools to pair metal detectors with staff and other security measures

Multiple speakers at the Cumberland County Board of Education’s public forum on Oct. 29 said the district’s recent investments in metal detectors have not produced the intended safety improvements because detectors are not consistently staffed or paired with trained personnel to confiscate weapons.

“Last year, I took hours out of my day to compile emails stating problems…things didn't get better,” said Cynthia Lee, a former Cumberland County Schools second-grade teacher, who told the board she filed a complaint with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction alleging the district is out of compliance with student-identification timelines. “You all wasted millions of dollars by installing metal detectors without putting security guards in place to make sure the metal detectors were used correctly and the weapons were confiscated safely.”

Taylor Rossman, a community member, said the district spent $3 million on metal detectors but did not budget for security staff to operate them. “We spent all this money on metal detectors, but we're not going to pay for security personnel. How much are our students' lives worth?” Rossman asked.

Jessica Small, another speaker, urged the board to place a security guard at each main entrance and to consider using trained civilians or a task force to identify how to staff and qualify people for those roles. “The easiest, most efficient way to stop this violence in the schools is to have an adult presence throughout the school day,” she said.

Speakers suggested a range of additional measures: stationing non-teaching staff in hallways and near bathrooms to deter vaping and other misconduct, assigning at least one adult to ride each school bus, creating a school-based task force to evaluate staffing and training options, and applying consistent discipline policies.

Board members did not debate these proposals during the public forum; the board’s procedure is generally to receive public comments and take them under advisement. The transcript records no immediate policy votes tied to the safety suggestions during the meeting.

The public comments came amid other citizen concerns at the same forum, including special-education compliance, access to evaluations and services, and equitable distribution of district funds. Speakers asked the board both for near-term staffing solutions and for clearer timelines and accountability about how safety investments will be used and tracked.

Board members acknowledged receipt of the comments; no formal action on staffing or changes to security policy was recorded in the meeting minutes for this session.

Community members may submit additional written materials to the board and the district for follow-up; the board’s public forum rules posted at the meeting limited speakers to three minutes each and said the board typically does not respond verbally during the forum.