School District to Use Metal Detectors to Deter Violence : Education: In wake of shooting, L.A. Unified officials will conduct random searches of students for weapons.

By SANDY BANKS

Jan. 26, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES EDUCATION WRITER

Responding to the classroom shooting of two students at Fairfax High School last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District will begin using metal detectors to randomly screen students for weapons at high school entrances within a week, Supt. Sid Thompson announced Monday.

Thompson said the district will use hand-held detectors in a pilot program to screen students on a random basis at three to five schools each day. The searches will shift from school to school, with no notice to students.

“I don’t think this will stop the hard-core gang member who is intent on bringing a weapon on campus,” Thompson said. “But we’re trying to discourage the foolish kid, the kid who does the dumb thing and thinks he has to carry a weapon to feel safe.”

The shooting at Fairfax High occurred Thursday, when a gun carried by a 15-year-old accidentally discharged in an English class, killing one student and wounding another.

The suspect, who appeared in Juvenile Court on Monday on charges of involuntary manslaughter and possessing a loaded firearm on school grounds, told police he brought the gun to school to protect himself.

The unprecedented classroom killing renewed calls from parents, lawmakers and school officials for tougher security measures, including metal detectors, to prevent students from bringing guns on campus.

Los Angeles Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the Fairfax neighborhood, lobbied Thompson heavily to win support for the use of metal detectors. Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Encino) pledged Friday to introduce legislation to appropriate state funds to the district to purchase more devices.

In the past, the school board has opposed the use of X-ray machines and metal detectors, contending that they would be too expensive and impractical for use on the district’s sprawling high school campuses.

On Monday, a majority of the board expressed strong support for metal detectors. Board approval is not required to begin the searches, but the district has only 15 devices and the board would have to find money in its tight budget if the program is to be expanded.

In the wake of last week’s shooting, “there’s a tremendous need to do something fast,” said board member Roberta Weintraub. “Going with metal detectors is a difficult thing to do because it’s the admission that you’ve failed in providing safe schools, but I think it’s absolutely essential. You can’t lock down the campuses, you can’t ring them with barbed wire, but this is something we can do.”

Now, the district uses the hand-held devices to conduct searches at athletic contests and other events, but they have not been used for routine on-campus searches.

Other large, urban districts, including New York and Philadelphia, use metal detectors to search for weapons. New York recently spent $28 million on an elaborate security system, including stationary X-ray machines to examine book bags and purses.

Thompson presented his search proposal to the school board Monday, eliciting strong objections from board President Leticia Quezada, who contended that the use of metal detectors would send the wrong message to students, who she said should regard schools as a haven from violence.

“I don’t believe in them and I don’t think we need to turn our schools into jails,” Quezada said. “When we do that, that is the day we have totally resigned ourselves to the fact that we are giving in . . . to the violent world.

“We need to focus instead on strategies that teach children to deal with conflicts without violence,” she said. “All the metal detectors in the world are not going to resolve the issue we’re talking about here.”

Instead, Quezada said, the board ought to adhere to its policy of expelling any students caught with guns on campus. Now, board members frequently vote to allow those students to attend alternative schools.

The new weapons search program involves using the detectors on randomly selected students at campus entrances at the start of school each day. The devices will be used at different schools each day, so that all 49 high schools--and some middle schools--will be subject to searches at some point. Students found with guns will be arrested.

“This isn’t aimed at one school,” Thompson said. “It’s on every campus. This way, the possibility of being searched would act as a deterrent to the students who think about carrying a gun on campus.”

Thompson said that if the pilot program works to uncover weapons, he will ask the board to appropriate money to buy up to 50 hand-held detectors--which cost about $200 each--to expand the searches.

In addition, the district will mount a campaign to encourage students to report guns on campus, including an anonymous telephone line that will allow students to make such reports without fear of reprisal.

“This is not just wishful thinking,” said board member Jeff Horton. “I think we can change the attitudes and behavior of kids, so it is seen as not just snitching, but protecting yourself.”

The 15-year-old accused in the Fairfax High shooting, who has not been identified because of his age, did not enter a plea at his court appearance Monday. The youth’s attorney asked the court for a delay and arraignment was rescheduled for Feb. 2, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. The teen-ager remained in custody.

The bullet accidentally fired by the youth killed Demetrius Rice, 16, and wounded Eli Kogman, 17, who was released during the weekend from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.