Citing the desire to ensure schools are as safe as possible, Pinellas County school district officials introduced plans Oct. 21 to consider using artificial intelligence-enabled weapon detection systems.<\/p>\n
Two schools, neither of which has been selected, would be the site of a trial run for the technology in the spring if the district decides to move ahead with the concept. Before getting to that point, safety and security leaders intend to run the equipment through its paces to determine if it makes sense to have a pilot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking for an additional layer of preventive protection,\u201d said Jennifer Dull, the district\u2019s chief operations officer.<\/p>\n
School board members said they were in tune with that goal, as school shootings continue to occur around the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to look at any and all options,\u201d board Vice Chairperson Caprice Edmond said, noting that Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri recently has shifted away from his opposition to using the technology.<\/p>\n
But Edmond and others also raised questions about the idea, such as whether installing a weapon detection system would impede daily operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want our schools to look like prison,\u201d Edmond said.<\/p>\n
Board member Lisa Cane recalled that past opposition to the concept included worries that large groups of students would be gathered in crowded areas waiting to pass through, possibly making them targets.<\/p>\n
District security director Sean Jowell responded that the technology has advanced beyond walk-through detectors to rely on scanners that operate unobtrusively, using artificial intelligence to help identify potentially dangerous items. He said visits to schools in Sarasota and Manatee counties, which use such technology, demonstrated smooth passage into schools with few delays.<\/p>\n
Even if the systems work, board chairperson Laura Hine said, other concerns remain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want having these at a few entrances giving a false sense of security,\u201d Hine said.<\/p>\n
The cost is an additional pressure point, board member Dawn Peters said, noting the schools already face financial constraints.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere would this funding ultimately come from?\u201d Peters asked.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Kevin Hendrick said the money would come from safety grants the district gets from the state. He told the board he would be mindful of all these issues as his leadership team reviews the possibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may decide it\u2019s not efficient and it doesn\u2019t make a difference,\u201d Hendrick said. \u201cWe want to have that information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board members asked for updates on the administration\u2019s findings leading up to any recommendations that emerge. Jowell said it would be at least a month before any further decisions are reached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Citing the desire to ensure schools are as safe as possible, Pinellas County school district officials introduced plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2872,113,596,15848,15849,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-19456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-pinellas-county","11":"tag-pinellas-county-schools","12":"tag-school-safety","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}