Baltimore City kicked off a district-wide transition to a new AI-based weapons detection system with six high schools this week.
The district spent just under $5.5 million on the new Evolv system after running a pilot of the program last school year. In a letter sent to families last Wednesday, district leaders warned students to “anticipate some potential delays” as the system is implemented in every high school over the next 30 days.
Executive Director of Operations Monique Roumo said this week’s implementation has been “relatively smooth” — since most of the schools participated in last year’s trial.
“We were able to work with them to talk about the kinks, the things that make it easier, and also the things that made it a little bit challenging for us at first,” said Eugenia Young, principal of Excel Academy, at the rollout of Evolv Thursday.
Young said her school struggled at first with false alarms about laptops and keys. But now, she knows the right sensitivity setting for the system.
The Evolv scanners look like traditional metal detectors, separating the school entryway from the rest of the building with two scanners that students must walk in between. But Young said it’s much more efficient and precise than the traditional metal detectors the school used to have.
“With a traditional system, the students have to take everything off: backpacks, headphones, bracelets, belt buckles,” she said. “But with the Evolv system, it allows for us not to have to have that struggle with students. They can literally walk through and then the system will detect what it needs to detect.”
The district’s letter to families said that leaders expect the new system to “increase the efficiency of our building entry process over the long term.”
Unlike traditional detectors, Evolv scans for the specific metal density and shape of weapons using AI technology to cut down on false alarms and wait times. That’s why the district originally decided to trial-run the system.
And Roumo said it’s the main reason why leaders ultimately adopted a four-year contract with the system.
“When you have students waiting to get into a building, and first period is taking place in that moment, that's missed instructional time,” she said.
But Wednesday’s letter still says students have to remove items from their bags — like laptops, binders and umbrellas — before entering the building. That caused some student backlash.
“Is there really a point to scanning students if they're taking out like two thirds of the items of their bag anyways?” said Ethan Eblaghie, a senior at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. “If we kept the current metal detectors and had students pulling out those items, would there really be a statistically significant difference in terms of timing?”
During the trial run, Evolv sent over 17 thousand alerts. Only ten of those cases actually resulted in a weapon being found.
Dasha Jessup, an Excel Academy student, said the new system feels quicker to her — because now she can actually walk through it.
“At first, I wasn’t able to go through because I’m pregnant,” she said. “But now I’m able to go through. It’s pretty nice.”
Jessup also said the new system makes her feel safer. In October, Communications Director André Riley told WYPR that 57% of students and 91% of staff surveyed by the district at the six trial-run schools reported the same.
Eblaghie said students are “split” in how they feel about weapons detection systems. Some, like him, worry they’re too invasive.
But Roumo said the system’s specificity cuts down on invasive searches.
“It's aligning with 21st century technology that you're also seeing out in the world,” she said. “Instead of having those long lines where every student is being tagged, so you're having to search everything, it tells you exactly what is being alerted, and you're able to go right to that thing.”
Ruomo said district leaders will continue to survey and monitor opinions on the Evolv technology from school leaders, staff and students as implementation continues.
