Weapon detectors to be added at school board meetings

Anyone attending a Fairfax County School Board meeting will be required to pass through a weapon detector, FCPS announced.

“The program is the newest layer of security implemented by the division to maximize the safety of our community, including all students, staff, school board members, and members of the public who attend these meetings,” FCPS states.

The school system will use the same portable OpenGate weapon detection devices currently used in some high schools, including Annandale. The scanners will soon be deployed in all FCPS high schools and middle schools.

Related story: Middle schools to get weapon scanners

FCPS prohibits the following items at school board meetings, as well as in schools: guns, knives, explosive devices, ammunition, objects capable of discharging a projectile, starter guns, paintball guns, pellet guns, blades, brass knuckles, mace, and objects that look like weapons.

Anyone attending a school board meeting is urged not to bring items that are allowed but might set off the weapon detectors, such as three-ring binders, laptops, metal eyeglass cases, umbrellas, and metallic pencil cases. Those items will slow down the scanning process.