Knox School Corporation to Apply for State-Issued Hand-Held Metal Detectors

Hand-held metal detectors may soon be coming to Knox Schools. The school board voted Tuesday to accept the state’s offer to provide metal detectors free of charge to Indiana schools.

The school corporation didn’t apply during the first round of the program, as most other school corporations did. But this week’s approval means Knox Schools will be ready when the second chance is announced, according to Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart. “We talked with my administrators,” he said. “We reviewed our school safety plan and reviewed it with our school attorney, as well, Mr. [Bill] Kaminski, and I think that we can be prepared to use them, at this point in time.” However, Reichhart said he isn’t prepared to share exactly how the metal detectors will be used.

Officials at other school corporations have noted that while the state is offering free metal detectors, they aren’t giving much advice about what to do with them or providing more money to implement and staff a security checkpoint. Instead, many local schools plan to use the devices to help with searches when there’s reasonable suspicion that someone has a weapon.