The Kingston City School District continues to grapple with campus safety, with members of the public and Board of Education trustees split on exactly how to handle it.
At a school board meeting held on Wednesday, October 23, an agenda item focusing on researching the feasibility of a weapons detecting system in district schools was misinterpreted by some members of the community as a vote to approve their use.
Some, like Franny Newman, opposed the idea. Newman, the parent of a 6th grader at J. Watson Bailey Middle School, said research has shown that metal detectors aren’t as much of a deterrent as intended, often made students feel less safe in their schools, and their placement was sometimes racially discriminatory.
“Key stakeholders have found that their use is overly time-consuming and expensive, and an overall disruption to the learning environment,” Newman said. “And it is known that there are racial disparities and discriminatory practices associated with the use of metal detectors, which is to say that in places where there are not only are metal detectors more frequently in schools with higher populations of students of color, they are more frequently leading to other invasions of privacy of students of color than of white students.”
Alana Berger, a parent of two students in the district, agreed.
“There’s no evidence that (metal detectors) are proven to be effective at stopping any kind of violence in schools, and in fact, they do have potentially negative impacts where it is more scary for kids,” she said. “It increases the feeling of fear. I just don’t think it’s a positive thing to do right now in the schools, and it certainly, at the very least, merits a lot of research and study before something big like this moves forward, given that there is a lot of research out there that does not actually support doing it.”
Others, like Jean Jacobs, favored weapons screening, adding that the district has been considering it for too long without taking action.
“When our students are safe and able to engage in meaningful learning, we begin to see the true potential of our children,” she said. “Therefore, no child should go to school in fear and sit at their desk and learn…We have been talking about this since two years ago when board members spoke to the public at KHS and said that there were metal detectors being considered and that our safety coordinator was going to Newburgh (Enlarged City School District) to review all the stats and the cost.”
Scott Denny, who has a five-year-old grandson at John F. Kennedy Elementary, said he favored a wide range of security upgrades, including armed school resource officers, and metal detectors. He said he’d spoken with a security company “at length” and offered to connect district officials with the firm.
“My biggest fear is the elementary schools,” he said. “Because when we look at the high school, God forbid that we’re an attack, at least those children are big. They’re big people. They have the ability to maybe fend off somebody. But the young children don’t have that ability.”
The item on last week’s board of education agenda (weapons detection system research) was not a resolution approving metal detectors, but rather one directing superintendent Paul Padalino to gather information. The confusion may have stemmed from a passage in the resolution which stated, “(T)he Board of Education hereby authorizes and directs the Superintendent to research, make budget transfers for, procure, and implement a weapons detection system for a pilot program at Kingston High School, and if feasible, the middle schools, for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year…”
Trustee Marc Rider, who backed the resolution, said school safety had been a priority for him before joining the school board two years ago, and he felt it was long past time to move the conversation forward. He also stressed that weapons detection systems are much more sophisticated than they used to be.
“Nowhere in this resolution do we see the words ‘metal detectors,’” Rider said. “Technology has moved past that…You keep your backpacks on. You don’t remove any metal. You walk through. It identifies things that are more than metal. So a plastic flare gun, for instance, would be screened and you’re brought aside for secondary screening.”
Rider said that unlike standard metal detectors, contemporary weapons detecting gates can screen around 2,000 people per hour. According to the New York State Education Department, Kingston High School has 1,856 students. Rider suggested having gates at five entrances could get students into the building within 10-to-15 minutes.
Some trustees expressed concern that staff and students hadn’t been consulted, and other said the district should prioritize mental health as a deterrent.
“I don’t believe there’s a person in here who doesn’t want to keep every student safe from every kind of problem that they have,” said trustee Suzanne Jordan. “My concern however is that there are students who need help, they cry out for help, they don’t get the help and then it results in some tragedy.”
Fellow trustee Cathy Collins cited statistics gleaned from the recent New York State School Boards Association conference which said that 94 percent of all targeted school shootings since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre were preventable because the attackers made their intentions known to someone before acting on them.
“If we’re interested in protecting our students from a student attacker, we know our our most of our 10th, 11th and 12th graders have been with us for 10, 11 and 12 years,” Collins said. “These are not strangers to us…I feel like moving forward on something like this when the research suggests that there are much more effective ways than the illusion of safety that weapon detection systems are going to give us.”
The proposal is likely to be revisited at either the November 6 or 20 meetings of the Board of Education.
Speed camera pilot program
The City of Kingston will launch a speed camera pilot program in up to three school zones this year after a bill sponsored by Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha was signed into law.
“Speeding is a serious danger, especially around our schools, and speed camera programs have proven to make a real difference in preventing fatalities, keeping both students and the wider community safe,” said Hinchey in a press release. “Tragically, we’ve lost too many lives in Ulster County to traffic-related accidents, and this new law is a critical measure that will help make our streets safer within Kingston school zones.”
The cameras in the as-yet-unnamed school zones will be in effect on school days starting one hour before arrival and one hour after dismissal. The system will also be operational during other on-campus student activities, enforced beginning 30 minutes before and ending 30 minutes after.
“Driving above the posted speed limit is a factor in 29 percent of traffic related fatalities nationwide,” said Shrestha. “The danger is magnified in school zones where large numbers of students are arriving by bus or on foot and are often outside during the school day.”
Drawing from the success of New York City’s pioneering safety camera program, which reduced speeding in school zones by up to 73% and fatalities and injuries by more than 50%, this legislation grants Kingston the authority to implement a pilot program of its own until December 31, 2029, to test the efficacy of such programs and help make local school zones safer.
“This legislation will enhance safety in our school zones, providing an important tool to protect students, families, and staff during school hours and activities,” said Kingston Superintendent Paul Padalino.“ Speed cameras will help ensure drivers slow down and stay cautious, supporting our commitment to creating secure environments around our schools.
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