Lynchburg schools to form stakeholder committee to advise on metal detector plan

Travis Marshall, a Finance and Facilities Committee member, said the district will form a stakeholder committee of parents, students, staff and a board-member representative to collect community input on a proposed metal-detector program.

“We are putting together a committee of stakeholders so that the community has a voice throughout this process,” Marshall said, and added the district will circulate applications for community members later this week.

Committee members raised concerns about balancing community input with operational security. One committee member said some implementation details—such as locations of equipment and specific security measures—should not be widely publicized because of safety risks. Marshall responded that those operational specifics would be limited to implementation-phase participants and not to the broader public.

Marshall and committee members said the plan is to implement detectors at high schools first and, if the rollout proceeds smoothly, revisit middle-school installations later. The committee also discussed which board member should represent the Finance and Facilities Committee on the stakeholder group; Committee Chair DePaul volunteered to serve as the board representative because the work aligns closely with the committee's remit.

Committee members emphasized the need to consider spaces used for alternative-education programs and mobile units when planning placement and access so those students remain secure during and after school hours. The group asked staff to bring details of proposed questions and the application form to the committee; Marshall said the application questions had been provided to committee members in hard copy and would be made available electronically.

The committee will continue to vet candidates and the process before bringing any formal recommendations to the full board.