Weapon detectors will be added to Salem-Keizer middle schools this year

Nearly 8,800 middle school students in Salem and Keizer will soon have to pass through weapon detectors before going to class.

Salem-Keizer School District leaders announced Thursday that they will roll out security screenings at the district’s 12 middle schools over the course of this school year.

The decision stemmed from a “disturbing trend” of younger and younger children facing weapons-related charges in the Marion County juvenile system, said Chris Baldridge, the district’s security director, during a Thursday morning press conference.

“We have a good pulse about what’s happening within our schools and what’s happening within our community,” he said. The juvenile data “is really kind of a driving factor for us. We don’t want weapons in our schools.” 

Last school year, Salem-Keizer became the first school district in Oregon to add weapon screening at all of its high schools. 

The $1.2 million cost for the middle school systems will be paid with money left over from the district’s 2018 construction property tax, and from a 2022 settlement with e-cigarette manufacturer Juul.

Once systems are up and running, they will be operated by existing school employees who will greet students in the morning. School will use Evolv screeners, the same systems currently in place at high schools and Salem Hospital.

Baldridge said the first middle schools will see weapons screening in late October. He hopes to have detectors in all schools around April. 

He said the rollout order hasn’t yet been decided, but will be staggered so the security office can help train school employees on operating the systems.

Some middle schools will scan student bags and backpacks in addition to the detectors, Baldridge said. That’s a step currently in place at high schools. He didn’t have a breakdown of which schools will include bags in screenings and said it will depend on the size of the school.

The security screenings are one part of a larger effort to better monitor and control who’s coming in and going out of schools. Other components include adding film to doors and windows in schools so people outside the building can’t see in — something that’s already been added to most middle schools. That reduces the peer pressure temptation for students to open the door for people standing outside the building.

Schools will also have alarms on doors that aren’t one of the designated screening points.

Schools will communicate more information to students and families as timelines are set.

Danielle Neves, assistant superintendent for secondary schools, has a son attending a south Salem middle school. She said his main concern about the rollout is being late to class, especially with taking a band instrument through screening.

“I am a parent who feels good about the fact that the weapons detectors are coming into middle schools, because it gives me …  another layer of knowing that the school district is taking care of my students, of the teachers in their building, so that they can focus on learning. And that’s our job,” Neves said.

South Salem High School piloted a weapon screening system in the spring of 2024 following a high-profile fatal shooting involving multiple students at Bush’s Pasture Park. Screenings rolled out to other district high schools gradually last school year.

A review last fall of the South pilot found students were tardy to class slightly more often during the early weeks of the system, but attendance also increased overall. Fights and other behavioral issues decreased.

Feedback from students and school employees has been largely neutral or supportive. Some, including youth activist group Latinos Unidos Siempre, have protested the expansion over concerns the systems will lead to profiling students and that money could be better spent on support for students.

Baldridge said he hopes to have a more thorough review of the weapon systems at high schools later this school year.

“This impacts our student experience. This changes how you get into school, this changes how school looks. I want to make that impact at the doorway be as quick as possible and something you don’t have to think about for the rest of the day,” he said.

Update: This story was updated at 2:38 p.m. to add Marion County weapons charge data for middle school aged children.

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Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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