HOWARD — The East Knox Board of Education approved the purchase of three concealed weapon detectors during Thursday night’s meeting.
The weapon detectors cost $365,083, with 75% paid for by a COPS School Violence Prevention Program, a Department of Justice grant. The district will pay for the rest via its general funds.
District officials will place one detector at the elementary school, while they will install two at the middle and high school buildings, respectively.
Interim superintendent Jim Peterson announced the district was awarded the grant a couple of months ago. The detectors will be installed over the summer, he said.
“The detectors can alert the sheriff’s office and deputies that work in our district and others in leadership positions,” Peterson said.
District officials reviewed the Motorola Solutions Concealed Weapon Detection (CWD) units nearly a year ago.
According to Motorola Solutions, the system “uses advanced sensors and artificial intelligence to detect a wide range of concealed weapons and threats, such as firearms, metallic weapons and improvised explosive devices, on a visitor entering the premises.”
The system projects a real-time video of everyone passing through the scanners onto color monitors.
It pinpoints any possible weapon or threat detected in a red square, allowing authorities to detain, question, and search the individual before they advance past locked interior doors.
Also at the board meeting, treasurer Jessica Busenburg was given an “Ohio Auditor of State Award” from the Auditor of State Keith Faber’s office.
The award is given for excellence in financial; reporting in according with General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and compliance with applicable laws for the 2023 fiscal year.