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Metal Detectors ‘Ready’ For Placement At WPHS

|Photo provided| Ohio County Schools Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones, right, and Nicole Shepherd, behavior specialist for the school district, address those attending a safety meeting Friday morning at Wheeling Park High School.

WHEELING – Two new metal detectors are “ready” for placement at Wheeling Park High School, but staff first needs to be trained in how to use them before they are set in place.

The metal detectors were purchased in December from a local distributor, Lauttamus, at a cost of $48,438.

“They are ready, but (their arrival) will coincide with our training they provide,” explained Ohio County Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones. “I don’t have a date for that yet.”

The training will be in two parts and be held over two days, he continued. On the first day, staff will be trained in how to use the equipment. The metal detectors will be tried out live with students on the second day.

The metal detectors primarily will be used at WPHS, with one at front entrances and the second at the back. However, they are light and mobile and can easily be to another location or school, he has explained. Each unit weighs about 15 pounds and can easily be transported in a car.

When ordered in early December, it was expected the metal detectors would take about two to three weeks to arrive.

The hope was for the metal detectors to be in place and ready for the start of the new semester, but there was a delay in the delivery. That hasn’t mattered much as Ohio County students have been home all but one day since the end of winter break due to inclement weather. The county already has exhausted its five snow days and have used four of their five remote learning days.

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