Schools Pledge $1.5M for Weapon Detectors After 5 Guns Found in 2 Weeks

A Kansas school board has unanimously approved purchasing weapons detection systems in a bid to bolster security.

The Wichita Public Schools Board of Education voted 7-0 to approve the purchase of 50 Opengate devices for the district's high schools during a board meeting on Monday evening.

The devices are designed to automatically screen people in transit and detect large metal objects, such as firearms and knives.

CEIA, the company that manufactures the Opengate, said it allows for the "automatic screening of people with luggage, backpacks, and bags, for the detection of Mass Casualty Metal Threats in high-throughput public places."

The purchase is set to cost $1.5 million, KWCH-TV reported, and the district hopes to have the systems at every high school by the start of the second semester.

The move comes after five guns were found at Wichita high schools in the first two weeks of the school year.

According to data released by the school district on Monday, the school has seen a recent spike in guns being brought to schools.

A total of 28 guns were found since the start of the 2017-18 school year, but more than half of those cases have been since August 2021.

And five were found between August 15 and September 2 this year: two at Wichita East High School and one each at Wichita Heights, Wichita North and Wichita West high schools.

Still, the school board's president, Stan Reeser, said the effort to prioritize safety measures in the school district began long before this school year and will continue in the future.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Wichita Public Schools said the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May "was a tragic reminder that the work we have done to secure and enhance safety in our district is not complete.

"We will use the information gained from the Robb Elementary Shooting and other school attacks to continue our work to better mitigate risk and impede potential threats."

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School in an attack on May 24 that lasted more than 70 minutes before police ultimately confronted the shooter and killed him.

The delay from law enforcement sparked a huge backlash after the public learned that police waited 77 minutes during the attack before going inside the classroom to stop the gunman.

Robb Elementary is permanently closed and will eventually be demolished. But last week, students returned to school for the first time since the attack with increased security and safety measures.

Wichita Public Schools and the Wichita Public Schools Board of Education have been contacted for further comment.