School officials and students in Broward County have had smoother days of school after the first few were marked with long lines at entrances due to new security measures.
Dillard High School student D’Ericka Patterson said, “It doesn’t look bad at all. I like this right now because they have the door open right there, so it’s good.”
38 schools, including 28 high schools, have added metal detectors for the 2024-2025 school year, causing long lines on many campuses.
Sky 10 was one of these campuses, with many of them having lines of students out the door.
“The line is ridiculous, and I didn’t get to class ‘till 8:40 yesterday,” La’Zariah Moody, a Dillard High School student, said.
Other students have said that the screening process was a lot faster. A second metal detector was added, allowing students to pick from two lines instead of just one.
Student Logan Connor said, “It [was] better today, not really as many people. They made it smoother. Yesterday, they had one metal detector, today it looks like they have two.”
Sky 10 also flew over Western High School in Davie, where lines appeared to be moving during those first two days.
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn apologized later for the long wait and vowed to fix the issues by streamlining the process.
“We also know that we have concerns with some of our larger high schools which experienced significant delays and so we’re reviewing that, we are actually going to send some of those an additional metal detector system so they can utilize multiple entrances to kind of work through some of our kinks,” Hepburn said.
Hepburn also urged students to offer assistance, stating, “Many of our students are still holding on to things in their backpacks they shouldn’t have—your electric devices, those large three-ring binders, umbrellas—those things should be taken out and they’ll help get through the line quicker to be more efficient.”
Hepburn acknowledged the challenges with the district’s new metal detection system during a press conference on August 13 and noted that the delays were just part of the “growing pains” of the first few days. He assured that enhancements had already been made, including the recalibration of systems and the addition of more metal detectors on campuses such as Dillard High School.
“So many great things happened for us yesterday, but of course that delay in our metal detection system is definitely some growing pains from yesterday, and we actually implemented a great process to continue to be efficient,” Hepburn said.
Hepburn went on to add that students were better prepared on the second day and that all students were able to enter their school on time. “Once our students get their routines down, we won’t have any issues in any of our schools,” he said.
Hepburn expected all students to be inside before the bell rang and confirmed that no weapons were found on campus in the first two days of the new system.
A later report from Local10 indicated that the process had improved. Torey Alston, a School Board of Broward County member, was quoted as saying, “There was a miscommunication between district staff and the contractors.”
Alston also stated that marijuana was found in a student’s metal container at one of the schools and that there were false alarms with items such as the metal in three-ring binders triggering their systems.
Students have since been instructed to place laptops, umbrellas, musical instruments, and eyeglass cases on a table so security could screen these near school administrators.
Hepburn wrote on X, “We sincerely thank our students for their patience,” and added, “We are committed to improving this experience and will be making necessary adjustments.”
