Students at about 30 Florida high schools waited in line for more than an hour before being allowed to enter the building on Monday for the start of the school year, despite metal detectors reportedly being installed at each entrance.
“Having a (metal detector) at every entrance is ridiculous. Students will have to be at school at 6:00, 6:30 in the morning to be able to go through the whole process,” Madeline Reyes, the mother of a graduating student, said. Miami Herald, Monday.
When school opened in the thirty or so public schools in Broward County on Monday, students had to wait in line for more than an hour outside their school doors to get through the new security installations, according to the American media.
Belt buckles, metal rings and even notebook spirals: despite staff efforts to speed up the process, the metal detectors installed at each entrance reportedly spent the morning activating, forcing students to wait in the blazing sun.
According to footage shared on X by an NBC 6 reporter, a crowd of teenagers were still waiting to set foot inside their school seven minutes after their first period began.
The same story was heard outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a mother reportedly reported that her children were still waiting in line at 7:55 a.m., despite arriving at the school at 7 a.m., according to the New York Post.
The same school was the target of a massacre in 2018 when a mass shooter killed 17 victims inside the school.
At other schools, staff reportedly ended up ushering students in without going through metal detectors to allow them to join their classes.
For his part, the school district superintendent apologized for the long lines and thanked parents and students for their patience, according to the NYP.
“Remember to avoid bringing metal objects or removing them from your bag when approaching the detectors in order to speed up the process. We are committed to improving this experience and will make adjustments as necessary,” he reportedly stressed in a statement.
