A knife found at Potomac Senior High School on January 3, 2024, was not passed through a metal detector.
We incorrectly reported it had been in an earlier version of this story.
Police reported a knife was found inside the school building on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. School spokeswoman Megan Silas said a security guard found a knife on the student, whom police described as a 15-year-old boy.
A school resource officer with the county police department determined the student didn’t mean to hurt anyone with the knife and charged the boy with possessing a weapon on school grounds, police said.
“Because we are less than six months into the deployment of this recent technology, we are continuously monitoring our processes and adjusting toward improvement. This situation remains under review,” said Silas.
Prince William County has invested nearly $11 million in new metal detectors at middle and high schools since the fall of 2023.
Insidenova.com published a detailed look at how the metal detectors work on January 8, 2024. Popular at concerts and large sporting venues, the Evolv scanners are supposed to detect weapons of all kinds while allowing large numbers of people to pass through the scanners simultaneously.
Prince William County and Manassas City public schools contracted with Evolv last year to install the scanners. In addition to the nearly $11 million to install the devices, it’s costing Prince William County an additional $725,000 a year to operate the scanners, reports Insidenova.com.
Prince William County is Virginia’s second-largest school division, with more than 92,000 students. Before inking the deal with Evolve, county school board members traveled to Charlotte, N.C., to view the scanners in action in public schools.
Potomac Senior High School is at 3401 Panther Pride Drive in Woodbridge.
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