Recent school violence, both nationally and in Northeast Ohio, has prompted the Massillon School District to buy metal detectors for at least two school buildings.
A metal detector now stands inside the main entrance of Washington High School, but it isn't operational yet.
Superintendent Richard Goodright said the second detector will be installed at the junior high/intermediate school building.
"This is just one more thing to keep our community and kids safe," Goodright said.
According to Goodright, school board members authorized $100,000 for school security improvements, which included the recently installed double-door entry system at the high school.
But the district decided more needed to be done following the mass shooting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida and the planned shooting at Jackson Middle School in Stark County that ended with a seventh grader committing suicide.
"My level of concern is high. It's very high. You never know when something might happen," Goodright said.
All visitors to Washington High School will be required to pass through the metal detectors. Staff members will not be required.
The district is still working on a policy as to when students will be screened, but Goodright said "more than likely" it will be random.
Lisa Benton, who has a 16-year-old son who attends the high school, was happy to hear about the metal detectors.
"Even if it stops one thing, that's one thing that could have got through the doors that didn't," Benton said. "Makes me feel a little safer with my child being in school with everything that's going on now."
