Embedded Files
In May 2022, in response to a stabbing altercation at Digital Harbor High School amidst an escalating series of violent incidents in schools across Baltimore, City Schools announced that all high school students would have to pass through a metal detector on their way into the building, or choose instead to be checked with a security wand & submit their bookbag to a search by a school administrator. That announcement, which had been proceeded by no consultation with teachers, students, parents, or community groups, was to go into effect the following Monday.
Source: Ethan Eblaghie
Immediately, issues began to emerge.
Immediately, issues began to emerge.
Schools had been delivered metal detectors by district staff over the weekend, but had not properly accounted for the time it would take to let every student remove their metals from each bookbag. Any City Schools student can tell you that this week in May was one of the worst of the school year. Lines outside every high school were common; waiting well over half an hour to get into school only to be late to classes, and teachers unsure of whether or not to discipline students perfectly on time, but made late by the logistical disaster of the metal detector checks.
And so, school administrators caved.
And so, school administrators caved.
After merely a week, administrators realized the system was untenable — students were losing too much instruction time — and so most schools completely ended enforcement of the policy. To save time while still adhering to the letter of the law, they implemented a system of "scan one of every x students" to ensure some were still checked.
Students didn't take things lying down.
Students didn't take things lying down.
City Schools students immediately saw the issue with this practice. In the absence of rules surrounding who was scanned and who was not, an immediate bias emerged, with students of color and those deemed "suspicious" or "badly behaved" being scanned and "non-suspicious" students being let through without scanning. Safety checks also discriminated disporportionately against students with physical disabilities, as those with braces, wheelchairs, or other accomodations had to be checked individually & placed with the brunt of the humiliation and vulnerability. A coalition partner of BSU, Schools Not Jails, released a student-led petition demanding that the district withdraw the failed policy.
Student Demands:
Student Demands:
End Policy BBA, so that Board Commissioners can publicly dissent to policy implementation they do not agree with and shed light onto the internal policy review process.
Hold a community forum with stakeholders including the Student Congress (ASCBC), student councils (SGAs), student groups, teachers' groups such as the teachers' union (BTU), the Parent & Community Advisory Board (PCAB), etc. in order to gauge public support for security checks before moving forward.
Issue a procedural framework for the implementation of security checks to prevent disproportionate profiling of students and the burden of implementation falling on teachers and staff to inform Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) planning.
Issue a report on the Digital Harbor altercation for public use.
Record data on the students checked, potentially utilizing district issued student identification, in order to ensure equal enforcement of the rules.
Disaster became catastrophe.
Disaster became catastrophe.
At the start of the new year, the mass shortage of school bus drivers led the school district to change bell times, allowing bus drivers to work double shifts & accommodate for all students on a route. However, MTA is notoriously slow — public bus in Baltimore runs late about 38% of the time — and the result was all-out catastrophe. With more students running late & the continued policy of scanning, more students were late than every, and harsher district tardiness policies converged to form long tardy pass lines in school buildings across the district. Ask any City Schools student and they'll tell you that showing up five minutes late may as well be forty, as you stand in a single-file to have your name called.
Source: Reid Glaros
Source: Simone Nikkol
Source: Melissa Schober
Source: Chloe McNeill
A turning point: The Evolv Contract.
A turning point: The Evolv Contract.
Since BSU formed, we have been fighting safety checks at every juncture of the process. In November 2022, City Schools announced the finalization of a contract with Evolv to replace all metal detectors with weapons detection systems which used facial recognition rather than metal scanning. While it was narrowly rejected, the contract was introduced in December and subsequently approved for a pilot at four high schools — Mervo, Digital Harbor (both of where BSU has chapters actively fighting this implementation), Carver, and Excel. Like the original metal detector contract, this procurement was announced days before it was finally passed without prior consultation with the public or any community groups, in violation of the Board's own stated promise for what it calls "principal engagement" — a green-light from key student, parent, and teacher organizations before moving forward with the implementation of a new policy.
Backroom Deals & Closed-Door Contracts.
Backroom Deals & Closed-Door Contracts.
A concerned parent of a Freshman at Baltimore School for the Arts, Melissa Schober, filed a Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) inquiry into the contract to glean more information into the decision-making process which had been so carefully hidden from the public. Her inquest revealed that City Schools had begun negotiations with Evolv in May, shortly after the initial safety checks measures were passed. It revealed that Evolv had a history of bribing school districts with discounted prices for their product in exchange for free advertisement, and that it also had a history of poor success in other school districts. In Dorchester County, MD, for instance, Evolv a false-positive rate of 43% as gathered by the school district's data. In other words, it had constantly confused school laptops and other tech-metals for pistols. In Utica, NY, the school district withdrew from its contract with Evolv entirely after a violent stabbing incident occurred when Evolv equipment failed to detect a knife on a student's person. A cursory google search also reveals that Evolv is up front with customers — its spokespeople are on the record stating that its equipment finds it difficult to distinguish computers in particular from guns. Her MPIA revealed, finally, that the district had already completed an entire round of piloting at Mervo in August, only days before a fatal school shooting.
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
As it stands, the School Board seems firmly intent on moving forward with this contract despite the uproar from students, teachers, and concerned parents. It proceeded with an outrageous piloting at the four aforementioned schools — which BSU objected to on the grounds that schools which have already been through fatal shootings should not have to be the guinea pigs for safety policy — on a seven to one vote. What we must do now is continue to educate the public about the dangers of this new system and organize those around us against it to try and push the School Board to retract this dangerous contract. Educate yourself, then educate others.
Share BSU's informational posts:
Share BSU's informational posts:
Instagram Explainer on Evolv & Twitter Explainer
(includes full School Board testimony from Quinn Katz-Zogby & Ethan Eblaghie of BSU in-post)
Read up on Evolv & why it's dangerous:
Read up on Evolv & why it's dangerous:
Take action directly:
Take action directly:
Join public feedback hearing for Evolv Contract 2/22/23 at 5:00pm here
Follow us on Instagram at @bmorestudentunion to stay up to date
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