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Resident urges Wicomico board to reallocate $3.5M for metal detectors to mental-health staffing
Summary
At the Wicomico County Board of Education meeting, resident and retired educator Maria Summer urged the board to redirect about $3.5 million proposed for metal detectors toward hiring school psychologists and expanding SEL and restorative-practices supports, citing research she said shows detectors do not reduce violence and can harm students.
Maria Summer, a county resident and retired educator, told the Wicomico County Board of Education she wants roughly $3.5 million budgeted for metal detectors reallocated to hire school psychologists and strengthen social-emotional learning (SEL) and restorative practices.
Summer said the research does not support metal detectors as an effective safety solution and warned they can undermine students' sense of belonging. “The data simply does not support metal detectors as a safety solution,” she said, citing a peer-reviewed 15-year analysis in the Journal of School Violence and a 2019 WestEd report. She also quoted the Brennan Center for Justice, saying it characterizes metal detectors as “security theater.”
In her three-minute public comment, Summer argued that metal detectors increase police contact, contribute to chronic absenteeism and may disproportionately harm Black and brown students by making school feel like a place where they are suspects. She urged investment in evidence-based supports instead: more school psychologists (she cited NASP guidance of one psychologist per 500 students), incentives for staff to pursue certification, restorative-practices coordinators, SEL curriculum implemented with fidelity, and staff training.
Why it matters: The comment frames safety as a resource-allocation question ahead of any potential budget or procurement decisions. Summer said Wicomico’s school psychologists currently carry caseloads she described as “over 1,500 students each,” and called mental-health staffing the district’s “most urgent safety need.”
The board did not take immediate action during public comment. Chairman Malone said the board would take notes and review the remarks and follow up if there was a reason to do so.
