Making the Schools Safer

In the wake of the fatal shooting in a Fairfax High School classroom, Supt. Sid Thompson has ordered that hand-held metal detectors be used to randomly check for students carrying fire-arms at high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. That’s a start.

The district currently owns 15 of the devices, which have been used at times to screen students at football and basketball games and even dances. Twenty-five or so more will be ordered.

The district says it can’t afford to buy the 250 needed to police its 49 high school campuses, even though they cost only $200 apiece. It’s hard to believe that elected officials, business leaders, community groups, parents and others can’t help meet this relatively modest need of money.

Cost concern prevented consideration of stationary metal detectors such as those at airports. These devices cost thousands of dollars each. Some sprawling, ranch-style campuses would need many to check at all the entrances. And if some doors were closed off, funneling thousands of students through only a few entrances could take hours.

Thompson didn’t need School Board approval to order the random searches, but a board majority did support his decision at a meeting Monday.

The board also strengthened the policy of expulsion. Some youngsters carrying weapons for protection had been allowed to remain in school. Now, students who bring guns for any reason will be automatically expelled. That is as it should be.

Thompson is also setting up an anonymous hot line to encourage students to report any guns they see on campus. The promise of confidentiality should embolden frightened students.

The use of metal detectors is neither an elegant technique nor a cure-all, to say the least. But to do any less for our children would be to run away from our responsibilities. Metal detectors are a necessary evil--a response to the greater evil plaguing the schools of Los Angeles.