Metal Detectors Possible at Grade Schools in Fall, ’95

Faced with a rising number of students bringing knives to class, members of the Oxnard elementary school board said Wednesday that school officials may have to start searching students with metal detectors as early as the fall of 1995.

The Oxnard School District, with 13,000 students between kindergarten and eighth grade, would be the first elementary district in Ventura County to search students with metal detectors, officials said.

“I do think we have to look at this carefully,” Oxnard school Trustee Jack T. Fowler said at Wednesday’s board meeting. If the number of students with knives goes up, he said, “then the district needs to do something about it.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District does not use metal detectors in their elementary schools, although authorities there conduct random searches on their middle, intermediate and high schools, spokeswoman Ria Parody said.

If Oxnard school officials resort to metal detectors, they said they would focus on junior high students, ages 12 to 14. But school officials are not ruling out employing the devices in the lower grades as well.

Last year, Oxnard teachers and other school officials caught 29 students with knives, compared to five students the year before, Supt. Bernard Korenstein said.

Most students carrying knives were 13 or 14 years old, Korenstein said. Two of these students were expelled and 21 were suspended or placed on probation. But six of the students were so young, ages 7 to 9, that principals decided not to bring these cases to the school board for an expulsion hearing.

The board did not take action Wednesday, but several members said the district may have to begin using metal detectors as soon as the 1995-96 school year.

“In our world we need to give serious consideration to crime in schools,” Fowler said. “For every knife we found, there were two that we didn’t.”

Board of trustees President James J. Sutter said that although he is concerned about pupils carrying knives to school, he is not sure if metal detectors are the answer.

“I have reservations about metal detectors because I am not sure if we have a real need for it,” Sutter said. “We have had only 23 episodes among 13,000 students. I don’t think that was so bad.”

But, he said, “If the number of students carrying weapons continues to increase, we will have to do something about it.”

Each school year, students and their parents sign a letter agreeing that students will not bring weapons to school and that both parents and students are aware of state laws prohibiting weapons on campus.

Oxnard Assistant Police Chief Stan Myers said police officers often are asked to help school officials in subduing a student carrying a weapon.

“It is not uncommon for our field officers to be asked to contact or seek out a youngster who has weapons with him,” Myers said. “From time to time, we actually have to arrest some students.”

Oxnard School District Parent Teacher Assn. member Janis Johnson said she is pleased the school board is focusing on student safety.

“I think that random search is not the ideal solution. It may be only a quick measure,” she said. “But students’ safety is in jeopardy and we do need to do something about it.”

Metal detectors though, have not deterred some older students from bringing knives to high schools in the Oxnard Union High School District.

Since the district began to use metal detectors in 1993, the number of students caught with knives has remained constant, with 44 caught during the 1992-93 school year and 43 the next school year.

“Overall, students and teachers feel much safer,” said Rafael B. Gonzales, director of support instructional services. “But what we have seen is that a vast majority of the students who are caught carry key-chain type of knives, which are harder to detect.”

The Oxnard Union High School District is the only district in Ventura County to conduct random weapon searches every day, officials said.