TechBoston parents object to school's metal detectors

This past fall, Boston public school officials moved the academy from a temporary home in Brighton to the complex, making it one of three autonomous schools occupying one building; the others are the Economics and Business Academy, and the Academy of Public Service.

Officials hoped the popular technology-based pilot school, launched a year ago and touted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, would help turn around the complex's long-troubled reputation.

Some TechBoston parents now worry that their kids are not safe.

"We had our children in a safe environment and they moved our school to a difficult environment," said Jessica Holloway, whose 15-year-old grandson attends TechBoston. "The two other schools in that building have had a lot of problems and we don't think it's fair to our students. We don't want them to feel like they're in prison, but they can't even get to class without walking through metal detectors."

Since school started this year, the nearly 800-student Dorchester Education Complex has had 83 episodes, ranging from arson to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, according to the district's school safety office.

School officials, however, said it is unfair and impractical to require one set of students to pass through metal detectors and not others.

"That's like suggesting we lock the doors in only one part of the school and not the other, or that we use security cameras in one school and not the other even though they are in the same building," said Michael Contompasis, the district's chief operating officer. "That's not going to happen. Safety and security in the building is everyone's responsibility."

Eight of 12 Boston high school buildings in the district have metal detectors. Nationwide, 9.4 percent of 84,735 public schools used metal detectors in 1999-2000, according to the latest data available from the National Center for Education Statistics. The number jumped to 20 percent when only 20,395 public schools in the country's larger metropolitan areas were evaluated.

"Since 9/11 we have a new norm in schools around the country," said Ron Stephens, director of the National School Safety Center, a California based nonprofit that works to curb school violence. "If a school has a problem with weapons, then I don't have a problem with using detectors. But there are key questions for schools to consider before using them, and they are: What are the threats that exist in the building? And what kind of climate do we want to create?"

The Dorchester Education Complex began using metal detectors in 2000 when it was known as Dorchester High School. The move came after a spate of violence, including a shooting, a stabbing, and a student being pistol whipped outside the main office.

TechBoston parents like Mary Sutherland, who also opposes metal detectors, hopes the academy will be able to expand and eventually affect the rest of the campus. "If TechBoston has to be there, we would like it to become the predominant school," Sutherland said.

Right now, TechBoston is the smallest acedemy, with only 148 students in ninth and 10th grades. So far this year, the academy has logged five incidents, according to school police. The two other academies have reported more: 29 in the Economics and Business Academy, which has 348 students, and 28 in the Academy of Public Service, which has 295 students. There were 21 incidents that could not be attributed to anyone in the academies.

"For my kids, we wanted metal detectors, and some of the parents wanted metal detectors, and it is our promise to them to keep their children safe," said John Leonard, headmaster of the Economics and Business Academy. "And as someone who has worked at Dorchester High for the past five years, all I can say is that I am really impressed because things here have gotten a lot better."