Um but at the end of the day again if I say that my our our student safety is our top priority then that's what I'm going to do and I'm going to make it that way. And so this is just another step in that direction. And so go your turn. Questions, thoughts. I have a question. Um, how long um do we expect the um the sensors to last? Like when will we have to replace them in the future? What's the expected life? Al, do you have any clue on that one? Yes, sir. First off, uh Dr. McCord and Nick team board, thanks for having me. Um, there open gate system comes with a 2-year warranty with a possible 5-year extension if purchased. That's warranty, but life expectancy, I'm not sure. I I I don't have the exact numbers on what the life expectancy is. I know Mesa Public Schools have implemented them um a little over a year and a half ago, and the only problems they've had with them is by physical abuse of, you know, somebody carrying one and dropping them.
And they we're lucky that the rep that was seen in the video is actually local to Arizona, although he's their national rep. So, we're lucky to have a rep from the CHA, the company that makes these right here locally for, you know, quick assistance when needed. So, I I do have a couple questions. We'll be having students going in and out daily throughout the day. Um, will we have somebody staffed right there? How are we going to handle that? I mean, there's a surge in at the beginning of the day and there's a surge out at the end of the day, but that um continuous coming in and out of the high school. How's that going to be managed? Um I we would hopefully we would like to have a security guard there at minimum to be able to staff that to be able to come in and out.
Um just because like you said um the incident uh allegedly that happened at Mosqu High uh that student it was a half day and according to this student I don't know how accurate it is or how truthful it is but they said they didn't have the gun on campus during school day but they went home and then got it uh for a lot of different reasons and brought it back to school and put it in their um athletic locker. And so we would want to make sure that we still had the ability to run kids through when they're coming and going off of campus to ensure that security. Okay. And then the other question I had was um they show you know handing the Chromebook around. What about things I mean we have a um popular water bottles that are metal Stanley cups. What about those items?
So they do not set it off. Correct. So just to be upfront, I haven't been trained fully on these systems yet myself either. Only the only information I have is from doing the research I've done during the RFP process and the trainings or the uh demonstration we had. And from my understanding, it's not specifically just metal that sets them off, but it's the high concentration of metal. So like it's the the Chromebook itself. It's not the Chromebook. It's actually the hinge on the Chromebook because it has a some sort of it's the concentrated metal in that hinge. Uh same thing in like it's been brought up about instrument cases, you know, trombones and stuff like that. It's the hinge in those that sets it off. And that's the that again that's the reason we do the, you know, the first few weeks it's the students getting into campus is a little bit slower because those are the learning curve.
That's where we learn what these items are because not only are we learning, but the students are learning, too. And as they learn, they know, oh, I I need to have this out ahead of time. Okay. So, we're we're not going to say you can't bring that metal water bottle that no is your favorite or whatever. Yeah. One of those Stanley Okay. Okay. All right. Thanks. That that clarifies. And and to back up what Dr. McCord said, we do have the ability to set sensitivity. We can set it all the way down to uh a pocket knife and set the sensitivity all the way up. It it's all depends where we want to set that sensitivity level. Okay. The the one last question I have is um because you mentioned trombones uh or tubas or things like that. Um what is the current practice with high school students and musical instruments?
Do they usually have one at school and one at home? especially, you know, something big like a cello or a tuba. Um, or are they carrying those back and forth every day? I think it's all the above. Okay. I It just depends on, you know, some families uh have the financial ability to have more than one instrument, some don't. So, it just depends. And again, it depends on what it is. Uh if if if it's a cello and I had the means to be able to have two. Yeah. I I mean I would feel for my kid lugging that around everywhere or go in and practice after school or before school. Right. And so but also with kids there they they may have two but they may have a favorite one or the one that they feel they perform better on. So stratavarious might be the favorite.
Yeah. You you lost me at Strata. No. Um Al, what about um kids pacemakers or uh maybe diabetic pumps? Yeah. So, I actually have a documentation right here from uh Cha provided it. It's from an accredited testing lab for electromagnetic fields and uh this question came up from parents in Mesa when they rolled it out and they've assured that uh it does not affect any medical devices or implants such as pacemakers, insulin pumps, heart monitors, anything like that. What else? There's got to be more questions. Well, if I I can I mean I I appreciate and respect that a lot of this was started by the prior board and work work was done before I came on the board. So certainly don't need to to rehash that. I guess my my question would be um I mean these security decisions are difficult, right? Because I mean you can always feel like more is is better, right?
There's always more you can do. And so, um, I guess just making decisions on whether these are the best dollars spent. Um, and obviously, I mean, you've you've arrived at at that conclusion. Um, I guess I I'd ask Mr. King as well, like if if we're allocating half a million dollars towards safety. Is this the best allocation of those funds or would it be better to allocate towards security guards or fencing or secured interest? I I realize all the above, but I'm this specific half a million dollars. Is this the best allocation for that? Well, to answer your question directly is yes, I do. And the re rationale for that is security, school safety is in a layered appro layered approach and we've done that with uh fencing, perimeter fencing, cameras, card access, um our burglar alarm systems, our tip line, additional security officers. All these measures alone will not do anything to keep our sa our schools safe.
There's nothing I can do to be quite honest to keep our schools 100% safe. But putting these all together, all these layers on top of each other makes our school safer. And this is just another layer in that school safety approach. I would also add to that in the sense that um I I don't want to lend a false sense of security to anybody. Um aside from putting up uh 10-ft rod iron fences with wire attached to the top of it and physically searching each kid as they walk in or like you're walking through a TSA. That's that's the top level, right? That's that's about as secure as you're going to get. And uh like I said earlier, I I don't envision and I don't want our schools to look like uh a place that isn't welcoming. And so that's why when we look at fencing, we try to uh you know make it bend to the actual physical structures that we have there.
Um when we ask parents to buzz in and at the elementaryaries, we want to make sure that they understand that this is for the safety of our students and our staff. And so um but we also understand that if somebody wants to do something horrible on a campus, they may figure out a way to do it. And all of these things individually and combined, they are also a deterrent more than anything in my opinion. And so um if it's going to make people think hopefully more than once about what they're bringing to our campuses and what the expectations we have of them when they want to enter our campuses. And so um it will not be the be all end all. Um but as Al put it perfectly, it is another layer that I think um utilizing dollars from our district and again you you had talked about security guards or whatnot.
Those are ongoing expenses. Those are something you continue to pay for year after year. This is a one-time expense for right now and um that can last us for several years. And so uh I think it's a great investment. Um, again, when I in particular talking to parent counsel about this, you know, I expected push back. You know, you got 40 people in there uh that have 40 different opinions and and I can fully appreciate that. I was more taken it back that like why haven't you done this yet? Why are we just doing this now? And so, um, I think that's where some parents level of of insecurity on a campus might be because a lot of these things happen around us, but they don't happen to us. And then the question is is well, when is it going to happen to us? And so, we want to be as preventable as possible.
And so, that's why uh we brought measures like this to you guys. Just just one more question. Are are we anticipating increased staffing costs with this or this will be absorbed by the current staffing levels? Our goal is to absorb it by the current staffing level. Something may different may come out of that after we implement this process and I'll keep you guys uh informed of that if that's the case. But that was that was the that was the task I I gave to the principles at the high schools was I need you to figure out how we can do this without adding any more people. And so they have done that. And so um but again if if we go through this process and we're like okay well they did it but we've pushed them to the limit in terms of what they can handle then you may see me coming back to you saying we need this or this.
Great question. So, I' I've got a few thoughts on this. Um, the first is more logistical in nature. All of our campuses have multiple entrances. For example, the student at Mosquite that brought the gun to his football practice. How are we going to manage How are we going to manage that when we've got Yeah. In the morning, we've got all the students funneling in through the main entrance, but after school, we've got kids going into the locker room from an entrance over here, and we've got kids coming in, you know, through the the workshop entrance, and we've got kids coming in from, you know, a different entrance. Are we going to have are we going to have these sensors at every entrance when when it's time and somebody to work them? How logistically how are we going to make that happen when we've got, you know, after school there's 50 different activities and kids coming in, you know, into the school from six different entrances.
That's exactly what keeps me up at night. And that's why we create our own choke choke points when it comes to this. we no longer will have some of those entrance to those areas. We will have them go through certain areas to make sure and it it it will be an inconvenience and it's also a training and as much as um we want to be as convenient as possible. Safety outweighs convenience when it comes to that. Okay. I I appreciate that. So I I've really struggled with this and a lot like you, Dr. record, you know. Um, I don't know if a few years ago I would have I would have been open to implementing something like this. Um, and and I'm I'm I'm a little hesitant now, and I I'll tell you why. And it's because I the last thing I want to do is I I don't want to give the public the impression that we need these detectors because our campuses are not uh are not safe.
Um but the fact is that in in our day and time unfortunately this may be a necessity. Um and so I think it just it's going to how it's how it's perceived by the by the public. And and I'm I'm thinking mostly of those parents that send their kids. I'm thinking of the parents that send their kids to Gilbert public schools, but I'm thinking of other parents that send their kids to other charter schools and, you know, is this going to give them one more reason to not want to come back or come to Gilbert public schools because, you know, because we we have metal detectors and the charter school down the street, you know, is this doesn't have metal detectors and it it you know, the the perception is that, you know, we don't need metal detectors because we're just, you know, nothing but rainbows and butterflies.
guys over here at this school and this, you know, this this governmentf funded, you know, public school is a place where bad things happen, right? And so I I think when we rolling this out, I think how we roll it out is just as important as as as actually rolling it out. And if this is approved tonight, my my hope is that by implementing these security measures, it's not seen as an indictment of how dangerous our campuses are, but rather a a reassurance and a demonstration of our dedication to keeping our students and staff safe. I would wholeheartedly agree with you on all of that. Um, in my 30 years in education, I've learned that I can only control what I can control. And as superintendent, my job is to keep these kids as safe as possible. Um, if people want to perceive Gilbert public schools as, oh my gosh, they have to have weapons detectors at their campuses.
Um, I I can't control that. It and I I'm only concerned about the students I currently have. If people want to go or come back from charter schools, they're going to know that their kids are going to enter safe spaces as safe as possible as that I can provide at this point in time. And so um I I completely understand and that's what I struggled with a few years ago and um but society has changed quite a bit and um a as superintendent I I have a job to do and it's not just to educate them but it's to keep them safe and that's the point of this whole um endeavor. So my my last thought is I'm gonna kind of piggyback on something Dr. Robersonson said um in connection with the money that's being spent for these you know and you already answered the question of is this the best use of these funds but my question is is a little different and maybe it's not a question of but something to contemplate is Where where does it end?
Where do we where do we say okay we have all these layers in place and that's that's the best we can do I mean I if we if we implement this you know in a year from now are we going to come back and be like okay well now we have to have all the kids wear clear backpacks and now we have to implement all these other things because they're, you know, all these other things, you know, are are these different layers that give this perception of safety. And I I guess I guess what I'm saying is I I don't want to do this for the sake of of just doing something to to for the perception of safety. I want to make sure that if we're going to spend half a million dollars on this that it's actually going to make our campuses safer and it's not just, you know, um uh it's not just an image that we're trying to uh to portray.
And so I I hope we don't I mean I can't tell the future. I don't have a crystal ball, but I hope we don't have to go much further than than these detectors. I think these, you know, the if they stop even one weapon from coming on a campus, then it's worth it, right? Um I I guess I would just I would just I'm looking down the road and I just want to make sure we're not in this mindset or cycle of perception of safety at all cost because it it it does get expensive. And at some point, like you said, even if we spent a billion dollars on safety, there's no guarantees. Correct. There are no guarantees. And um I again, a few years ago, I was in that same exact spot. Where does it end? And um but I also sit back and I look at what my responsibility is and what our responsibility is.
Not just me, but you guys as well. And um I love the fact that we have we're an A school district and we have more A's at our schools than anywhere else. And that's an that's that's a tribute to what we provide now. And um I don't think I could sleep at night knowing that I had this ability to make it safer and I didn't do it. Where does it end? You were at that same training. You saw some of the videos of some of those schools in New York and it was like going through TSA, right? Uh I won't be around when we get to that point, just so you know. Um, and I don't hope we ever get to that point, but again, like I said, I didn't know we would get to this point a as superintendent. But, um, I, as I get older and as I continue to grow in this position, my patience for people um, doing the wrong thing at the expense of other people is gone.