FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – School officials and students in Broward County has a smoother second day of school Tuesday, after the first was marked with long lines at school entrances because of new security measures.
“It doesn’t look bad at all,” said Dillard High School student D’Ericka Patterson. “I like this right now because they have the door open right there, so it’s good,”
A total of 38 schools, including 28 high schools, added new metal detectors for the 2024-2025 school year causing long lines on many campuses.
Sky 10 was over several high schools across the county on Monday, many of them with lines of students out the door.
“The line is ridiculous, and I didn’t get to class till 8:40 yesterday,” said La’Zariah Moody, a Dillard High School student.
Other students at Dillard High School said the screening process was a lot faster. A second metal detector was added on Tuesday, allowing students to pick from two lines instead of one.
“It’s better today, not really as many people. They made it smoother. Yesterday, they had one metal detector, today it looks like they have two,” said student Logan Connor.
Sly 10 also flew over Western High school in Davie, where lines also appeared to be moving.
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn later apologized for the long wait and vowed to fix the issue by streamlining the process.
“We also know that we have concerns with some of our larger high schools which experienced significant delays and so we’re reviewing that, we are actually going to send some of those an additional metal detector system so they can utilize multiple entrances to kind of work through some of our kinks,” said Hepburn.
Hepburn also urged students to help out.
“Many of our students are still holding on to things in their backpacks they shouldn’t have-- your electric devices, those large three-ring binders, umbrellas--those things should be taken out and they’ll help get through the line quicker to be more efficient,” said Hepburn.
Hepburn acknowledged challenges with the district’s new metal detection system during a press conference Tuesday, noting that delays were part of the “growing pains” on the first day.
He assured that enhancements have already been made, including recalibrating systems and adding more metal detectors at campuses like Dillard High School.
“So many great things happened for us yesterday, but of course that delay in our metal detection system is definitely some growing pains from yesterday, and we actually implemented a great process to continue to be efficient,” Hepburn said.
Hepburn added that students were better prepared on the second day, and all students were able to enter their schools in a timely manner.
“Once our students get their routines down, we won’t have any issues in any of our schools,” he said.
By the end of the week, Hepburn expects all students will be inside before the bell rings and confirmed that no weapons were found on campus in the first two days of the new system.