LARGO — Over the past decade, schools across the country have installed new safety equipment and procedures in response to mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, among others.
When perimeter fences with locking gates first went up on school grounds, or resource officers began patrolling hallways, confusion, anxiety and backlash typically followed.
The latest addition in Pinellas County arrived April 7, when weapons detection systems were activated at Palm Harbor University and Gibbs high schools. The rollout is part of a Pinellas County Schools-funded pilot program that runs through the end of the academic year in May and will help determine whether to install the systems at other schools…