Salem-Keizer Public Schools to install weapon detectors after recent shooting

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Two weeks after a teen was shot and killed near a Salem high school, the district is now considering weapon detectors in schools.

Parents and students got their first look at the safety measure in a demonstration at Stephens Middle School on Friday that allowed families to ask questions about how the new system could potentially protect their students.

Inside the middle school, the district set up two vendors with their own detection systems to show how they work and what happens when something sets them off. The focus was on applicable uses, such as daily entrances into the school or other major school events – including games.

The move to equip schools with detectors comes about two weeks after 16-year-old Jose Vasquez-Valenzuela was shot and killed near South Salem High School and two others were injured.

Superintendent Andrea Castaneda said the conversations around weapons detectors have gone on for a while, though outside violence has sped up conversations to bring them in sooner.

“Community-based violence is not a school's problem. Schools are just part of a community, and so when things go on outside the walls of schools, they often seep in the walls of schools,” Castaneda said.

As for cost, that's still up in the air. The district hasn't decided on a company or just how many they will have set up, but they're estimating it'll cost around $800,000 to put them in middle and high schools.

Superintendent Castaneda says that will come out of a restricted fund they're unable to use on other district needs.