Should Philly schools scan middle schoolers for weapons? | Pro/Con

On Monday, the Philadelphia School District began periodic weapons screenings in middle schools and elementary schools with middle grades.

The controversial move is in response to increases in gun violence, which is affecting schools, the district said. Schools will be chosen randomly, and students will have to either walk through metal detectors or be scanned by handheld wands. The goal is to scan all students between sixth and eighth grades before the end of the academic year.

The new policy has raised strong feelings among residents. We asked two local parents and the district’s chief of school safety to debate: Should Philly schools scan middle schoolers for weapons?

By Kevin Bethel

Philadelphia is facing a crisis of gun violence that is exacting a devastating toll, not just on our city’s families and communities but also on our public schools. The failure to address illegal gun possession in our communities has had downstream consequences.

In more than 30 years of working in law enforcement — 29 years with the Philadelphia Police Department and the last two as chief of school safety with the School District of Philadelphia — I never thought I’d be having daily conversations about children at the middle school level having access to and carrying guns.

In a recent Washington Post Live segment, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated that nearly 6,000 guns were recovered by her department in 2021, which is a large increase from previous years, and that “we’re seeing guns fall into the hands of younger people, juveniles, far more readily. Our shooters are becoming younger,” she added, and “shooting victims are becoming younger.”

» READ MORE: Philly school board asks City Council for help mitigating gun-violence trauma during a sometimes-testy hearing

Based on data we have received from the Police Department, which we cross-referenced with our student database, we estimate that, just during this academic year, more than 150 students enrolled in our public schools have been the victims of gun violence, including 24 incidents that resulted in death. We are also seeing more incidents of firearms and other weapons in the hands of middle school students.

None of this is normal, nor should this behavior ever become normalized. Every incident leaves emotional wounds for students and school staff that our district diligently works to heal. Schools must be safe places for students, and we all have a collective responsibility in ensuring that our students and staff are safe as they learn and work.

In the wake of increasing gun violence, our School District has put extensive measures in place to protect the physical, social, and emotional well-being of our students. Our Office of Student Support Services team, school leaders, and staff have been working overtime to provide trauma support for the students, families, and school staff who have been impacted by gun violence.

“This measure is one that none of us would have imagined just a few short years ago.”

Our Office of School Safety has reimagined its work, with a significant focus on restorative practices, which focus on helping people heal from violence. These include the expansion of our school diversion work, in which kids are offered social services and counseling instead of being arrested; increasing the availability of amnesty boxes at our doors, so that students can leave weapons and other contraband without fear of reprisal; a mentorship program between students and school safety officers; Police Athletic League for our students; and collaborating with the student support transition team to mentor students coming back from placement in the juvenile justice system.

All of this work is making a difference, but in this time of crisis, more must be done to help keep our students and staff as safe as possible during the school day.

The recent decision to conduct random scans at the middle school level is just one more resource for us to keep our schools safe.

This measure is one that none of us would have imagined just a few short years ago. However, given the extreme levels of gun violence in our city and the increasing trends of weapons found in our middle schools, we must take action now. It is about keeping our students and staff safe, which is always our number one priority. The students and communities that we serve should expect nothing less.

Kevin Bethel is the chief of school safety with the School District of Philadelphia.

By Keren Sofer and Meredith Weber

As the parents of two children in a Philadelphia public school, we believe there must be urgent action to keep our children safe from the rise in violence in our community. We don’t doubt that the School District’s move to institute random weapons searches for middle schoolers comes from our shared desire to prevent and respond to violence in our schools. But as mental health and school professionals, we believe that this policy will ultimately backfire, making our children more vulnerable to the very violence we seek to eliminate, while also wasting valuable time and resources when other proven interventions could be implemented instead.

Research shows that measures like body searches and metal detectors do little to improve school safety. In fact, they could have the opposite effect.

Since the searches are being performed randomly across the city on a given day, this policy will not prevent weapons from being brought into schools. Instead, they will signal to children that there is danger, and may teach students that violence is a part of school culture. Many middle schoolers attend K-8 schools, meaning that children as young as 5 could witness their classmates and siblings getting searched by school safety officers.

“[Weapons scans] will signal to children that there is danger, and may teach students that violence is a part of school culture.”

The policy states that children who don’t agree to the search will be “referred to the school’s leadership.” Kids found with firearms will be referred to police. We are worried that the search policy will create a slippery slope, and children who are found with other “inappropriate” items (which the policy doesn’t specifically define) could be punished.

This policy is likely to disproportionately harm students of color and students with disabilities, who are most at risk of having behavior criminalized, and could lead to more children being subjected to school discipline and possible juvenile justice involvement. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which is seeking to break the “school to prison pipeline,” students should have fewer harmful interactions with school security and unnecessary arrests.

» READ MORE: Philly will institute weapons scans of middle schoolers starting Monday. Critics say, ‘This is not OK’

We recognize there are times when it is absolutely appropriate to search students. When a student makes threats, is reported by other students or staff, or is identified as demonstrating troubling behaviors, a search and monitoring may be fully warranted. However, these are specific exceptions and do not justify a broad policy that is inappropriate for the majority of students. Additionally, any significant policy decisions should not be made without input from caregivers, students, and staff.

To be clear, we do not advocate for simply lifting this policy. We want the district Office of School Safety to implement solutions that are backed by data, thus abiding by its own stated mission. One is the Safe Path Program, which pays community representatives to walk kids to and from high schools. The program is based on one that was linked to a drop in crime in Chicago, and can easily be expanded to our middle schools.

Schools can make more use of programs like Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, made up of evidence-based interventions to help behavior. These programs are proven to reduce behavior problems and prevent school violence, but currently, only 100 of the district’s 217 schools are trying them.

Our children should not have to wait for adults to take meaningful and proven action to keep them safe in school. We need to immediately move on from this harmful and ineffective policy and implement what we know will work.

Keren Sofer is a licensed psychologist and parent of a third grader at the Fanny Jackson Coppin School. Meredith Weber is the parent of a fourth grader at Coppin and an associate professor of school psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.