TARZANA : Group Offers Metal Detectors to Schools

Spurred by the slaying of a student at Reseda High School in February, the Tarzana Chamber of Commerce has offered to provide metal detectors to improve campus safety at three Valley schools.

Last week the business group donated nine of the $120 hand-held metal detectors to Taft High School in Woodland Hills, and extended similar offers to Reseda High School and Portola Junior High School in Tarzana.

“This is just terrific,” said Ronald Berz, principal of Taft High School, which had received two detectors from the Los Angeles Unified School District. “We need these things not only for every day at school, but also for after-school activities such as football games and dances. This will save us time.”

Richard Cord, principal of Portola Junior High School, said his school was provided with two detectors by the school district, but could use two more of the devices.

“It’s not so much being able to do more (searches), as being able to do it quicker,” Cord said. “Hopefully we’re going to cut in half the time it takes to do a search.”

At Reseda High School, principal Robert Kladifko said the four detectors his school has now are more than enough.

“We’ve got more metal detectors than we need right now,” he said, adding that the school does not have enough staff to operate additional detectors.

Herbert Graham, director of police for the school district, said if the donated detectors are compatible with those of the district and are used by trained personnel, he appreciates the effort. The chamber drive was organized by Lillian Wall.

“We bought as many as we could with the available funds and we can certainly use more,” Graham said.