Officials with Barrow County schools say they’re expanding a weapons detection program to the district’s middle schools. This comes after it was implemented in the county’s high schools last month.
The OpenGate Weapons Detection System will be installed at Barrow County’s four middle schools later this month.
“I’m happy to share that the middle schools will be receiving their devices in the next week, followed by a day of training on Monday, February 17th, and scanning will begin on February 18th,” said Dr. James Bowen, assistant superintendent of support services.
The announcement came during the Barrow County Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The meeting was held five months to the day of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder that left four people dead.
Ismael “Junior” Angulo’s younger brother, Christian, was among those killed on Sept. 4, 2024. Angulo addressed the board during Tuesday’s meeting.
“Since Sept. 4, my family and I have been living in a nightmare. Life has become so difficult without him. A huge piece of us is missing and will always be missing,” he told the board. Angulo said his brother, who was 14 at the time of his death, “was very excited to start high school, but you all failed to protect my brother and everyone else that day. It baffles me that this student (alleged shooter, Colt Grey) was allowed at Apalachee after threatening another school. You can’t bring my brother back, but you sure can do the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
That deadly shooting spurred the county to install weapons detectors last month in its three high schools. Apalachee High was the first to receive the devices on Jan. 13. Barrow Arts and Sciences Academy and Winder-Barrow High School received the devices on Jan. 21. All schools had a Digital Learning Day on those days to allow for staff training. A similar plan is in place for the system’s installation and training at the middle schools.
GPB News contributed to this report
