For the 2025-2026 school year, the Shaler Area High School and Middle School are going to be implementing a OpenGate weapons detection system.

This system is supposed to be able to alert staff members and security if any weapons (or water bottles, 3-ring binders or Ipads) enter the buildings.

Shaler Area School District has dealt with multiple incidents involving weapons or threats of using weapons. The most recent and extreme instance was when a student was filmed with gun on a district school bus.

Shaler Area School District officials visited Franklin Regional High School and Gateway High School, two schools that are similar in size to Shaler and have a weapons detection system in place. The people who visited said that they witnessed the process and claimed that it was very efficient and not intrusive.

However, if students dared to bring metal water bottles, 3-ring binders or some electronics like Chromebooks, it would take them a lot longer. Because these items have a high amount of metal in them, if students walk through the metal detector, sorry weapons detector, it will set them off. Students will then have to go through “alternative security”, which basically means they get their person and belongings searched. Doesn’t sound isn’t intrusive at all.

The 3-ring binder, I can work around. I’ll just stick to folders. But the water bottles? Why can’t we just set the water bottles aside or over our head? We were told that students may have to enter carrying iPads over our heads so they don’t set off the detector. If I decide that I’m still going to bring my water bottle to school, I have to spend who knows how long getting my bag and person searched.

My bag is huge and has so much stuff in there. The officials claim it shouldn’t take very long, but what if a lot of people continue to bring their water bottles? How long is that going to take?

I think that the water bottles are going to be the biggest thing that people are upset about. Many students bring their water bottles to be able to stay hydrated and refreshed during the school day.

The school district says that people should just bring plastic bottles or just buy a drink everyday. I would love to be able to bring a plastic water bottle, but many times I’ve had the water and it didn’t taste right and/or it wasn’t even cold. Even if it was cold, the plastic water bottles won’t keep them that way for very long.

Buying drinks? Fantastic, if you want to spend at least $2 every single day. There are students who can’t afford to do that or they don’t have the cash to pump into a vending machine.

Being able to bring metal water bottles is better for the environment and saves students money. It doesn’t seem right that students will be subjected to daily searches for this.

Another question: what is the success rate of this metal detector, sorry, weapons detector? If I’m going to be forced to walk through this thing every morning, I would at least like to know that it is actually benefitting my safety.

I’ve read reviews of OpenGate and there seem to be some questions about the effectiveness of the system.

While this is relatively new information, there are many students that aren’t aware of the fact that this is happening, and if they do, they don’t know what the process will look like. They aren’t aware of the things that they can and can’t bring to school next year.

“I heard rumors about it, but I didn’t know it was actually happening and it was going to be this bad,” said Paityn Greygor, a junior at Shaler Area High School.

Also, both schools don’t have enough security staff to be able to oversee the system and searches, so they will be looking to teachers, custodians and other staff members to watch over it. What happens if someone does bring something to either of the schools? Now a teacher who didn’t sign up to be in this situation has to deal with it. It’s putting teachers and other staff members in difficult situations.

Plus how many staff members are trained to know what to do if a situation like that were to occur? One of my friends has multiple family members who work as staff members across all buildings in the district. When I asked them about it, they either expressed how uncomfortable they would be if they had to conduct a search or oversee the process or they expressed how that wasn’t in their original job description and they would expect to be paid more if the school district wanted them to participate in it.

Isabella Gehinger, a junior at the high school stated, “I don’t think it’s possible for them to have a full system already set up in under a year, I think that there should be more planning about it. It is not going to efficient enough before the next school year.”

I completely understand why the district feels the need to do this, in light of some of the events over the past school years. It is a way to make sure that students remain safe and protected. It might also help prevent further incidents from happening.

But, I think that Shaler Area is underestimating some of the issues this will create adn how much it is going to change the next school year and the ones that follow.