Horry to install weapons detection systems after gun incidents. What schools will get them
The Horry County Schools Board approved buying weapons detection systems a month after a student brought a gun in a clear bag undetected inside Myrtle Beach Middle School.
It is not the first incident of a student bringing a weapon to school.
During a special meeting Monday, the board voted unanimously to place at least two OPENGATE systems at every middle and high school and academies, as well as one OPENGATE at every elementary school. They will also provide training for all staff who screen bags starting the next school year.
Since the middle school gun incident, parents have been calling for Horry County Schools to install a weapons detection system to replace the current metal detectors in the school, The Sun News reported.
OPENGATE is a weapons detection system that’s used by other school districts, including Georgetown County School District. Unlike the current metal detectors, students can walk through OPENGATE with their backpacks on and it will detect potential weapons.
Included in the proposed Horry County School 2024-2025 budget is $709,000 toward “safety and security all day searches” and just under $200,000 toward “safety and security program specialists.”
On March 11, during a board work session, the Horry County School Board had a “vote of no confidence” in the current security division of Horry County Schools, according to a video of the meeting.
On Feb. 6, a student at Myrtle Beach Middle School brought a gun in a clear bag into the school. Students’ bags do not go through the metal detector and his bag was not randomly chosen to be searched, The Sun News reported. That morning, a different student found bullets in the bathroom and told staff.
The school resource officer noticed the student who brought the gun was acting strange and while walking the student to the office, bullets fell out of the student’s pants.
