Um for a lot of different reasons. Um but here we are in uh 2425 school year and my philosophy my thoughts have changed um because I think that as a school system we need to do all that we can within our means to make sure our students have a safe place to uh to learn our staff has a safe place to work and our communities felt uh prideful in sending their kids to our school knowing that their safety is our number one priority. And so with the addition of these things that have occurred over the last couple years at our schools, I I just sat down on the fact that this is what I want to do as a superintendent and I think it's my obligation to do that. And so um on November 8th, um I gathered all of our high school principles and some other administrators from their campus as well as their lead security guards.
We gathered in this room as well as some district personnel, a couple governing board members came um to look at uh a weapons detecting system. Um after we had an incident at Mosquite High School, um the principal there, Sean Lynch, reached out to me and said, "Hey," cuz it was um homecoming week. um he wanted to provide another level of safety for that event with the homecoming dance as well as the homecoming game. And um Mr. Lynch is from Mace Public Schools originally. Uh well, not originally. Uh well, yeah, I guess was originally. Then he was in Higgley for a while and then came back to Mace Public Schools and then we got him over here and we're very fortunate for that. Um, through Sean Lynch's contact, Al Kane's contact with individuals Mace Public Schools, we acquired uh and borrowed a couple of their weapons detecting um systems for those particular events.
And uh my first thought was that it's a great opportunity for us to try something like this out. and um they implemented those systems for those events uh during that week and they absolutely loved them and also the community loved them and I believe the students loved them as well because again it just showed that we are taking these situations serious and we really uh it really springboarded us to where um we are today. So again, on November 8th, we gathered those individuals. We had um open gate systems um come and do a demonstration of what those look like because I had no idea what that would look like and what that consisted of. And so those representatives set up um in this room the detection system. And what those detection systems are two 25 lb columns um that individuals walk through and those systems are can be set at different levels to detect metal.
Okay. And there's an international standard that is set for weapons. Okay. Um and um they demonstrated what that would look like for us. And so I wanted to make sure that it just wasn't one individual's want or need as a superintendent, but I wanted to make sure that I had our high schools on board for something like this. Um, and after the demonstration, we sat around and we had conversations about, okay, what are some of the challenges that are would be related to implementing something like this in our high schools and what can we do to uh make this a possibility for Gilbert Public Schools. Um, and I tasked them with going back to their campuses and looking at each one of their individual campuses to set up uh what that would look like as students entered the campus for the day and making sure those detection systems were uh in appropriate places and the materials that they needed to be successful, the personnel that they needed to be successful.
And so we gave them a couple weeks and after uh the Thanksgiving holiday um we circled back up and uh me, Marcy, and Al went out to each one of our campuses and sat with their teams to talk about their needs related to that. We compiled all of that information and and our campuses go from a 300k uh alternative school all the way up to a high school with over 3,000 students. And so the needs are going to be different on every campus. The logistics for each campus is different. Every campus is set up differently and their routines and what their expectations are where students come and go are different. And so after we sat down and had those conversations, uh we compiled a list of materials that are needed. And some of those materials that uh we settled on were 32 open gate metal detector standup systems uh that we had at that demo.
And we're we'll show you a video here of what those look like. We'll show you actually a couple videos. Um 32 open gate stabilization plates. Those are plates that go at the bottom. Uh these are lightweight and they hold up pretty well, but we want to make sure that we have the stabilization plates uh to go. These systems are they don't have any moving parts in the columns. They're basically um a brain with a scanner in it that can detect this type of metal. You may have you've I guarantee you if you've been to some kind of concert, some kind of sporting event, um at a professional level, even college level, you've walked through these things. And um in the past when you used to walk through these, you would have to take out your phone, anything with metal keys, and you would um put it in a bowl and then walk through and pray to God it didn't beep, right?
And then get your stuff. Now the technology has come because of where they can set put settings on these weapons detectors. they have located and identified um what a weapon consists of met uh in terms of metal and how to detect that and so um as again we went through this process with them we settled on these types of things we will have also we're requesting uh seven open gate handheld rechargeable metal detector wands there are many metal detector wands out there on the market. These are high quality. So if if it's a smaller event or they have a need to wand somebody for a weapon or some type of metal, they can use that as well to detect that. Uh looking at a 100 steel crowd uh control barriers, when you have numbers of students coming into a campus on a daily basis, you need to make sure that there's orderly fashion.
And those are those metal um almost like cattle guards that you can set up. Uh 25 retractable uh stansions is what they're called. Those are like the the ones you see at movie theaters where you can, you know, move them around and expand to those uh pieces to create different types of environments. Uh 90 heavy duty folding tables. At each one of those stations, uh, we will have folding tables, and we'll show you why here in a few minutes. Um, 32 plastic sandwich board signs with signage and artwork to go up each one of those to indicate to them what's going to happen next and what the requirements are. Um, this also includes in-person training for security administration at each one of our campuses. And then Net ID anywhere cloud-based management system. This allows uh staff members to monitor the operational status of all devices.
That's just on each campus, but I believe Al would also have access to be able to do that um from anywhere that that app is located on. And so, um let me show you Sarah if you would push up the first video. This is the open gate system. [Music] You'll notice those wands are there. Those are You need two of them obviously to make it work. ID out, Chromebook out, backpack on. [Music] The gentleman on the left in this video is the one that did our training and they will come out when we implement these to help us through the process. Um, so as you can see, that's where the orderly fashion is. The question always comes up, well, won't it take longer to get into school? Yes, it will to begin with. Uh, there's always a training component for students and normalization of processes that you have to go through uh to ensure that kids get into this routine and what the expectations are when kids because all of our kids have Chromebooks.
If kids walk through that Chromebook has enough metal in it to set the detector off. So as kids will go through, they will they will be asked to have their backpack on them, take out their Chromebook, and as before they walk through, they hand it to somebody who's standing off to the side who will take their Chromebook, they walk through, and assuming everything's fine, they just hand them back. They put it back in their backpack and they walk on through. That's as quick as it can happen. If something gets detected, they will be asked to uh come to the side. We will have a security guard or slro depending on We only have one SRO per campus, but depending on what station that they're at at that time, they can assist as well. Um we will have support staff as well as certified staff helping out with the processes through this on a daily basis.
Um, and we will have, depending on the campus, different locations for them to walk through. Basically, probably coming out of a student parking lot and into the front area. Um, after school is has started, they can move those stations to the main entrance of the school for people to walk through throughout the day. They're battery operated by rechargeable batteries, okay? almost like a DeWalt or Milwaukee type battery that they can utilize and they can be recharged on a daily basis. And they have I forget how many hours worth of run time. I think each each tower has dual batteries. That gives them approximately 12 hours. 12 hours. And so the beginning of school, it shouldn't take you 12 hours. You're probably looking at a half hour just from setting it up, getting it ready, and people walking through to tearing it down. Uh we will also utilize these at large events that occur, maybe football games, basketball games, concerts, um things that are going to have a decent number of people there.
Um but again, we're going to work through that process as we go through. Um, the company that was awarded this contract is called um, School Specialty and everything that I talked to you about will come to about $573,000. Okay? And um, this comes with a $17,000 annual fee for the Net ID package. And again, that gives us the ability to control those systems wherever they're at. Along with those systems, like I said, they have different settings on them. They can set the set it all the way down to where they would capture the metal on a zipper as you walked through to all the way up to um you know very low sensitivity related to that. We would use what the recommended manufacturer was the international standards. Our main goal is to detect weapons. Okay. Um, those are the ones that cause mass destruction on campuses as you've seen over the years.
That's our first and foremost concern. Would we have the ability to capture things like vapes and things like that? We do have that ability, but our first focus right now is weapons as we go through because things like vaping on campuses is a problem as well. We can look at what we can utilize those detectors for for some kind of options related to that if that's what we want to do. But right now, I'm just focused on making sure that kids show up uh with the appropriate items in their backpack and on their person as opposed to inappropriate items. Um this is as we roll this out, if this is approved this evening, we will order these. We will start off by rolling out to our campuses. will probably start off at GCA as well as Canyon Valley. And it's because they're probably the two smallest campuses that will be part of this roll out.
And that gives us an opportunity to see how it works, work out some kinks, and then we'll roll out to two other schools as well, and then try to get all the roll out done by the end of the school year. Okay, that gives us about eight or nine weeks. That's my goal. I'm not telling you that I'm going to get there. Our last two campuses would be Mosquite High and Camp Overy High. In addition, you guys have approved fencing for those schools. Um, and the fencing that has occurred on that campus, there's already fencing on there, but there's a lot of unsecured areas that we've been able to secure with fencing and incorporating the buildings to utilize. So, we're not having just a fence all around a campus. It's incorporating those those entry and exit points to make sure that those are secure throughout the day uh and night of course.
And then our goal again is to familiarize our students and our staff with what this looks like and then as we roll into next year everybody is familiar with it, comfortable with it, understands with it, understands the expectations and day one of the school year for the 2526 school year we're rolling full strength. Um the other piece of that is um we want to make sure that the plans that we laid out in December are appropriate for when we go full boore at the end of this year as well as the beginning of next year. And if there's some adjustments to be made, we'll make those adjustments. And so communicationwise, it's important that we communicate this out to parents the most effective way. Uh we've presented this to all of our superintendent councils uh in the fall of what we want to do. We've showed them videos of example videos.
Each campus will have a video specific to their campus. So our communications department has went out and already pre um filmed some footage of what this could look like. Uh we have communication, written communication to go out to students, staff, and parents about what the expectations are and what this will look like.
We'll give them plenty of lead time so they can have any questions answered and understanding and um ensure that everybody is on the same page when we hit the go button on these. Um Sarah, will you show this next video? This is an example of what a video would look like. And this is kind of like on the district side as a district as a whole. I think Al is our uh narrator. So Sarah, go ahead and hit that next one. Video provides important information for students and visitors about the new weapons detection system, OpenGate, which will be implemented in all Gilbert public schools high schools. Open Gate is designed for automatic threat detection screening of individuals carrying backpacks and other items. It can also identify prohibited contraband items on school property. The open gate screening process is quick and automatic. There is no need to remove backpacks, bags, or purses, making for an easy walkthrough experience for students.
Certain items may trigger alerts in the detectors, including eyeglass cases, laptops, scissors, and other large metal objects. Please remove these items prior to entering or consider leaving them at home if possible. Upon arriving on campus, ensure that your student ID badge is visible. Additionally, please take out your Chromebook and any hard eyeglass case with a metal hinge from your backpack to present to a staff member before walking through the detector. If the open gate system activates an alarm, you will be asked to walk through the system again without your backpack or bag. A staff member will escort you to a designated search area for a brief search of your bag or person as necessary. All students and visitors entering the campus during regular hours are required to go through the open gate detectors and may be subject to a search. Your safety is our top priority.
The open gate system provides an additional layer of security on our campuses. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we implement this new safety measure. [Music] So that's a example of a video for us rolling it out as a district. And then again, each campus will have specific videos for showing students this is where you're enter this is where you will enter your your campus and these are the expectations of what you will do as you enter those campuses.
And so that's kind of a quick snapshot with a couple little videos and um we're all here to enter entertain any questions. I would I I would just kind of anticipate some thoughts that you may have is like I said I went back to what I would think about 5 years from now or 5 years ago and where my thoughts and attitudes were about this and I explained that to you and this is where I am today. um we we implement this and we've experienced this a lot in our lives. I mean, if it's if if if we have sporting events that think think it's important for us to make sure that everybody's safe there at a sporting event or at a concert, why wouldn't we think it's important enough for our students and our staff on a daily basis? Um there will be some that aren't very um they're not they don't believe that this is something that we should be doing in our in our district and I understand that and I respect everybody's opinion.