These Muscogee County schools will have weapon detectors installed
Weapon detectors will be installed at all middle schools, high schools and athletic facilities in the Muscogee County School District this year.
MCSD chief operations officers Travis Anderson announced the news during Monday night’s school board meeting.
At minimum, the weapon detectors will be installed at two entrances at each MCSD middle school and high school, Superintendent David Lewis told the board: at the main entrance and where students get off their bus. Larger schools will have weapons detectors at more than two entrances, he said.
“All visitors will have to go through the front doors, where they will be screened by (security) personnel,” Lewis said.
The weapon detectors won’t be installed by the time classes start for the 2025 fall semester on Aug. 4, Anderson said.
“It will be a slow rollout throughout the district,” he said. “But before September is over, all those schools will be fully implemented with the weapons detection system if they have high school or middle school students, as will our athletic facilities.”
In an email Tuesday replying to the Ledger-Enquirer’s questions, Lewis said the total cost of the system is $884,000, funded through security grants from the state’s FY 2025 budget.
“The purchase and installation of weapons detection systems in all district middle and high schools is part of our district’s ongoing commitment to providing a safe and productive learning environment for student and staff,” Lewis wrote in his email to the L-E.
OpenGate, manufactured by Colorado-based security company Isotec, is the weapon detection system MCSD bought, he said.
MCSD chose OpenGate “after a thorough review,” Lewis said, “based on its demonstrated effectiveness, portability and pricing. This system allows for non-invasive, real-time screening for potential weapons with minimal disruption.
“This technology has already been deployed successfully at Kendrick High School last year as a pilot and is in use at many public venues and multiple school districts across Georgia and the nation.”
The OpenGate weapon detectors allow people to walk through without emptying their bags unless an alert is triggered, Lewis said.
“In such cases, trained security personnel will conduct quick and respectful follow-up screening in a private, designated area,” he said. “Its portability will allow for the system to be moved throughout the school or to athletic sites.”
Asked why no MCSD elementary schools will have weapon detectors, Lewis said, “Based on principal input, the Board of Education chose not to install the system in elementary schools at this time.”
The Ledger-Enquirer also asked the administration for statistics about the number of times weapons have been brought onto MCSD property. That data wasn’t provided before publication.
No school board member spoke during the meeting about their opinion of this plan. The Ledger-Enquirer emailed each board member questions asking them whether they agree with the administration’s initiative.
District 5 representative Laurie McRae is the only one out of the nine board members to reply before publication.
“I agree with the decision to install weapon detectors and support any reasonable steps to help protect our students and allow them to feel safer while at school,” she said.
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 7:33 PM.
