Georgia's Barrow County to install weapons detectors after Apalachee High gun arrest

Cassidy Alexander, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jan 9, 2025

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ATLANTA — After weeks of pressure from parents and students, and the arrest of a 14-year-old student who allegedly had a weapon at Apalachee High School this week, the Barrow County Board of Education voted Thursday to install weapons detectors in its high schools.

District leaders intended to discuss safety recommendations later this month, but moved the conversation to this week. The board voted to spend up to $700,000 to put weapons detection systems in the district’s three high schools.

“We see you, we hear you and we care,” Lisa Maloof, the board chairwoman, told attendees at the emergency meeting. Many of the dozens in the audience participated in a rally before the meeting started, intended to push the board into taking immediate action.

School was canceled at Apalachee High on Thursday, following the arrest of a student who allegedly had a firearm on school grounds on Wednesday. The arrest came about four months after authorities arrested another 14-year-old student who was charged in the Sept. 4 shooting deaths of two students and two teachers at the Winder school. The board convened for an emergency closed-door meeting to discuss “policies related to weapons in schools.”

Change for Chee, an advocacy group that was formed after the shooting, has been urging district officials since the September shooting to install AI-powered weapons detectors, among other recommendations.

Barrow County will begin receiving OPENGATE weapons detectors as early as next week, Superintendent Dallas LeDuff said. At the conclusion of the board meeting, the audience erupted into applause.

District officials have received several sales pitches about OPENGATE weapons detectors since 2023, from multiple companies, records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show. One company called it a “revolutionary” system designed to detect “high caliber assault weapons and IED devices, up to full size handguns.” Another company boasts that the system can detect “a wide range of metallic threats, including knives and single-shot micro-pistols to high-caliber assault weapons and everything in between.” LeDuff did not say what company would be providing the detectors.

Several metro Atlanta school systems have recently put Evolv weapons detectors at middle or high schools or in football stadiums, though they remain uncommon nationwide. Less than 10% of schools in the U.S. screen students daily with metal detectors, according to the most recent federal data.

Dozens of students, parents and teachers participated in a rally ahead of the meeting to push district leaders to take a step like this one, gathering for the second time this week. They held signs with messages like, “Why is there a price tag on our lives?” and chanted “Change for Chee!” in between speakers.

Maloof said that district employees have been “working diligently for months” to evaluate possible school safety enhancements.

“This was planned for in a few weeks,” Maloof said, “but in light of the recent events, we moved this meeting to tonight.”

There was no opportunity for public comment on Thursday, but several students and parents pressed the board at its regular meeting on Tuesday to do more. Some students talked about feeling helpless, and how seeing unlocked doors and few police officers at school make them feel unsafe.

“Despite my gratitude for the efforts made, the Board of Education’s inaction is becoming harder to excuse,” said Sasha Contreras, a student who was in one of the classrooms where the shooting took place.

Before this week, the school board has resolved to hire an additional eight school resource officers and to put phones in classrooms to aid in communication. The district has also brought in a therapy dog named Beau, and is in the process of hiring five full-time therapists and a recovery coordinator for the school.

LeDuff promised that there would be more to come on safety enhancements in Barrow schools.

“Safety is about layers,” he said. “We will continue to engage experts. We will continue to talk with our community. We will continue to engage with our public safety partners. And I’m confident, as I said on Tuesday, our community will get this right.”