A morning in the life of a Brockton High student: Metal detectors and backpack checks

BROCKTON - Every morning during the 2022-23 school year, every Brockton High School student entered the building and started removing their laptops, binders and any other metal objects from their backpack.

Each student had to walk through one of the school’s metal detectors as staff checked the inside of their bags.

The students then packed their stuff back up and scanned their ID before entering the rest of the building.

The whole process can take five minutes. If there’s a line at the metal detector or ID scanner, students could miss their whole first period.

“The line can wrap around” outside the building, said Wacilla Moniz, 16, a rising junior at Brockton High who served as last year’s sophomore class president.

“Kids would miss class periods because they take too long.”

Brockton upped the high school’s security measures at the beginning of the school year; in the beginning, students had to wear clear backpacks but that is no longer required.

Parents, staff, administrators and students have all expressed concern about the violence and safety inside Brockton High, where fights break out in the hallways and at times cause injuries. The school added weapons detection systems, or metal detectors, to prevent students from bringing in weapons.

ID scanners were added at the entrances to ensure only Brockton High students are coming through the doors.

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"Malfunctioning with the scanners happens," Moniz said.

“The main concern is making the school safe, safer than it is now,” said Mike Thomas, superintendent of Brockton Public Schools and interim principal of Brockton High, at a public forum in July.

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What are the school's safety measures?

Each of Brockton High's four buildings - Green, Red, Azure, and Yellow - has a designated entrance with metal detectors students must enter through each morning. An additional metal detector is located in the main entrance for guests to go through.

"We have had kids who are not Brockton High students enter the building. They've been let in through a door and we can't identify them," Thomas said in July. "That is a real safety concern."

"There are weapons detections systems at all BPS secondary schools," said Jess Silva-Hodges, Brockton Public Schools' chief public relations officer, in a statement to The Enterprise. "I cannot get into specifics about what objects they detect or the frequency at which they detect objects due to the need to maintain confidentiality around our security measures."

The school has roughly 3,500 students, who all have to enter through the detectors to get into the school.

The building has a total of 85 exit doors and over 400 cameras inside and outside of the building. Three police officers are stationed at the school each day.

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Despite the measures, Thomas said students have been jumped and the school can't identify them because they have their jacket hoods covering their face.

"We've had some major fights and we've had some students get jumped and it's from Brockton High students," Thomas said.

At July's public forum in the Red building cafeteria, multiple parents and students said that parents aren't notified when instances of violence occur unless their child texts them.

Enterprise staff writer Christopher Butler can be reached by email at cbutler@enterprisenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton High School students enter through metal detectors daily