FORT SMITH -- The School District is considering a $156,000 annual contract with ZeroEyes, a weapon detection system company.
The School Board heard an update on the contract during its meeting Monday.
Martin Mahan, the district's deputy superintendent, said the system uses the district's existing cameras with artificial intelligence to detect weapons and send the footage to be examined by experts. He said if there is a threat, the school impacted would immediately start lockdown procedures.
According to its website, ZeroEyes was founded in 2018 by a team of Navy Seals and elite technologists following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting of Feb. 14, 2018, to protect people from facing similar circumstances. The system provides military-grade intelligence monitoring to facilities like schools, commercial buildings and defense sites, dispatching human-verified alerts within three to five seconds of a weapon being detected.
JT Wilkins, senior vice president of sales, told the School Board that ZeroEyes is already being implemented in 40 states, including Arkansas.
"Just in 2023 alone, our software resulted in 10 arrests for weapons that were being used in a threatening manner," he said.
The system does not detect concealed weapons or weapons in a holster, according to the ZeroEyes website.
Mahan said the plan is to have ZeroEyes operational in schools in August. He said he wants to keep the full scope of the system private for the district's safety.
"This type of system is going to be a number of cameras that will be equipped, also with a software package that will be part of the service," he said. "This equipment will have a five-year warranty. That price will stay the same for a six-year period. If we choose to continue each year to recommit, that price would stay the same."
Charles Warren, the district's chief financial officer, said administrators are looking at available grants to cover the cost. He said if those are not available, the price will come out of the district's operating funds.
District Superintendent Terry Morawski said the contract is a commitment the board will annually discuss to see whether it wants to continue working with ZeroEyes.
"I for one appreciate the presentation again, and the plan that we had implemented and the process going forward," said board President Dalton Person. "This is of the upmost importance, I think, for all of us on the School Board, and I have full confidence in the committee and the district going forward with engaging in this, with ZeroEyes, for the term and cost provided."
This contract comes after the district responded to two incidents involving weapons since the start of the school year.
The first incident occurred Aug. 16, when a Northside High School student was arrested in connection with having a firearm on campus.
The gun was discovered when school administrators and the district's Police Department responded to a report of a student vaping and searched his backpack, discovering the gun, according to a district news release. The statement said school police immediately took the gun and arrested the student, and no students or staff were harmed during the incident. The student was charged with a felony, and the case has been referred to the city prosecutor's office.
The second incident occurred Aug. 22 when a Ramsey Middle School student reportedly brought a knife to school and threatened a staff member outside a classroom.
A news release from the school stated Ramsey administrators and an on-site district police officer promptly disarmed the student and nobody was harmed. The student was arrested.
Morawski, at the School Board's meeting Aug. 28, said several actions are being taken or considered regarding school safety. Dean positions have been added to Northside and Southside high schools this year to assist with student discipline, allowing assistant principals to focus on campus safety and improving the school environment, he said.
Morawski said the district is looking to hire four more school resource officers to support Fort Smith's 19 elementary schools as well as the Belle Point Center and Peak Innovation Center.