As Gainesville High School enters another academic year, it also enters its second year of using the Evolv safety screeners. These systems are designed to keep students safe while in school while remaining convenient and not slowing down entrance or exit, scanning for potential weapons or other disallowed material while being able to ignore or find many other items that a standard metal detector would alert as a false positive or would not detect.
Students, however, seem mixed in their opinions of the installation and maintenance of these safety devices. A survey of 290 students was conducted, asking the following:
How safe would you say Gainesville High School is from 1-5, with 5 being the safest?
| Safety | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| # of Students | 12 | 27 | 71 | 128 | 52 |
| Percentage | 4.13 | 9.31 | 24.48 | 44.13 | 17.93 |
Has this ranking been changed by recent events, such as the Apalachee School Shooting?
| Yes | No | |
| # Of Students | 120 | 169 |
| Percentage | 41.52 | 58.48 |
Would you say the Evolv Safety Screens / Metal detectors make you feel safer at school?
| Yes | No | |
| # Of Students | 88 | 202 |
| Percentage | 30.34 | 69.66 |
The 290 students rated Gainesville’s safety at an average of 3.6, with over half of all students rating the school at a four or above. In addition, while most students seemed unaffected by recent events such as the Apalachee School Shooting, 42% of students reported that their opinion of Gainesville’s safety was changed by those events.
One common feeling among students surrounding their safety is that they would feel safer if they had access to their phones. One student, Annabelle Vang (Junior) responded to the question of if the news of shootings made them feel more unsafe: “I feel a little uneasy about it [recent shootings], but overall I feel okay. I think I would feel safer if they let us have our phones just in case.” Another student, Josh Chambers (Sophomore), when asked if they felt safe, replied, “I feel very safe, but I feel like I would be safer if I had my phone.”
Notably, of the 290 students surveyed, 70 percent stated that the Evolv Safety Screeners did not make them feel safer while in school. One common theme of those who did not feel safer was that they weren’t strong enough of a deterrence. “They’re okay, but I feel like if somebody really wanted to get anything through there’s so many ways around it,” responded Harvey Michael (Sophomore). Another student, Josh Chambers (Sophomore), stated that “They’re just extra work [The metal detectors]” and “If someone wanted to sneak a gun in, it’s not that hard”.
While many students felt as though the metal detectors weren’t making them safer, many also approved of, and felt safer due to, the metal detectors. “I think it does its job and I think it got rid of a lot of problems,” responded Sophia Do (Junior), and Camila Villavicencio (Junior) stated that “Knowing that there’s more security, and they’re hiring more security for the school, I feel a lot safer.”
Overall, the general opinion of those surveyed was that GVHS is safer than other schools, and regardless of if the Evolv systems made students safer, they weren’t doing any harm, save for causing small delays entering the school.
Omar Ali (Junior) responded saying, “I don’t think it helped anything, but, if it makes people feel better about themselves then they can keep it.”
