GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's the First Day of School for Guilford County Schools students. Body scanners are now in middle schools, a system glitch may impact some Northwest Guilford bus riders, and more police will be patrolling school zones. Here's what parents need to know.
In Guilford County, security is top of mind on the First Day of School. Body scanners will be at middle and high schools this year.
Students will walk through them every morning to make sure weapons are not brought onto campus.
Before Monday, Guilford County Schools outlined its 12-point safety plan - and the status of keeping students safe this school year.
"During the spring, 41 schools were converted to new video management systems - more than 1800 cameras were upgraded through that process. During the summer, GCS began a process adding cameras to schools that previously had little coverage, and began replacing old cameras throughout high schools," said Guilford County Schools Superintendent Dr. Whitney Oakley.
The added security cameras give the district more than 7,500 camera angles throughout 124 schools.
The body scanners are new to the district's 22 middle schools this year. The comes after GCS saw success at 26 high schools. Last year, four guns were found on four high school campuses, and body scanners detected two of them.
GCS Assistant Superintendent for School Safety and Emergency Management Mike Richey said the community can help fight violence by working together.
"Talk to your children about how to resolve issues with others and not jumping to violence. The SROs play a great roll along with our staff, teachers and principals in creating those relationships. SROs are not typically on school for enforcement - their main purpose is to set the example, to build relationships with children, prevent the fights from ever occurring," Richey said.
GCS said it is continuing to work on safety improvements and is doing so through the newly-passed bond projects. They are also 75% done with the installation of cameras at GCS schools.
Northwest Guilford High School says a system glitch will force some students to find a new way to get to school.
We received a copy of an email from the school's principal.
It told parents that some students' transportation requests did not get processed because of a system error.
A GCS spokesperson said this impacts 50 ninth graders.
The district told parents about the problem last week when they discovered the issue. Teams are working to fix it, and things should return to normal by Thursday.
GCS says Northwest is the only school impacted.
A state report found more than 1,000 crashes involved school buses last year. More than 700 people were hurt and eight people died.
Greensboro police are trying to cut those numbers down. On Monday, they start a new initative called Operation School Watch.
GPD said it's to promote safety during the first two weeks of school.
Officers will beef up patrol in school zones and neighborhoods -- during the mornings and afternoons. They'll check for speeding, seatbelt usage, stop arm violations and drivers who ignore the crosswalk.
So drive safe and be on the lookout for any school buses on the road.