Metal detectors. It’s been a hot topic in the school ever since they were installed after the backlash that the proposal of clear plastic backpacks had received. The real question is, are they effective? 

The metal detectors, which have been installed at the school since the spring, have been a straining point between faculty and students.“It creates a culture of like students versus the administrators,” junior Wilson Lane said.“I mean, it may make us safer.”

 Lane’s opinion seems to resonate with most students who see the devices as either ineffective or having only a small effect on the general safety of the campus. There are even people who do not feel any safer with them on campus. 

“Anyone could just slip through them [metal detectors],” sophomore Josh Yanezmora said. “Anyone could just not do it at all, I mean it’s mandatory but still.”

The metal detectors have also been criticized for not producing results and for detecting students’ school supplies. An example of the metal detector’s problems with detecting school supplies is the requirement for students to remove their binders from their bags. These policies have been enforced by the security team which has also fallen under scrutiny for certain policies which some students dislike.

 “I [bring] my instrument for band through, it always triggers the scanner,” Lane said. ”Every single time they look in my bag and they don’t realize it’s my instrument.” 

Whatever the case may be, the Metal detectors will continue to be in place as a mandated CMS Policy. Though students may dislike them, they will need to learn to live with them.