GREENSBORO, N.C. — Before fans sat in the stands to cheer on the Grimsley High School Whirlies, they had to go through body scanners.
"It should be seamless. Our students know exactly what to do. They know the protocol," Grimsley's Principal Ged O'Donnell said.
Most fans said they were glad to have the extra layer of protection.
"I think whatever keeps our Whirlie family safe here is fine with me," Austin Simons said.
"You don't want anybody walking into the football game with a weapon that can injure a lot of people," Billy Livingston said.
"If they feel it's needed, I'm for it because of course I [want to] stay safe," Tarshima Hackett said.
O'Donnell said the process is simple, just walk through the technology that can detect knives, guns and anything that looks suspicious.
They're the same scanners that the Guilford County Schools set up at all high schools for the new school year.
"We work together as a team. We've got a great team that makes sure that our visitors know exactly what to do, where to go for using the scanners affectively, and it's [gonna] be great. It's going to be fantastic and it just gives us one more layer of security and safety for [our] visitors," O'Donnell said.
Adding scanners at games comes after fights canceled Dudley High School's game at halftime last week.
The district said this move isn't in response to that incident, but fans said they feel more at ease.
"I just think the general opinion in the community and even in the nation right now is that we wanna keep kids safe [and] student safe. So, these are great measures to make that happen. You know it doesn't really hinder anybody," Simons said.
Some parents said unfortunately, the scanners are a necessity for safety.
"It's sad. But it is the reality of the world nothing that we can say could probably change that however like I said if it's needed, I would prefer to air on the side of safety, but it is sad, but this is where we are," Hackett said.