Every morning before the first bell rings at Booker T. Washington Middle School in Newport News, art teacher Heather Snell isn’t in her classroom preparing for the school day.
She’s stationed at the school's entrance, lifting heavy backpacks, instruments and Chromebooks as a mandatory weapons detection station worker.
It is a role, she said, that resulted in a rotator cuff injury. She said she and other teachers in Newport News Public Schools have been forced into front-line security positions that fall outside of their training and job descriptions.
Snell told the school board in December that “the responsibilities assigned at the metal detectors go well beyond what should reasonably be considered ‘other duties as assigned.’”
Following the 2023 shooting of teacher Abby Zwerner by her 6-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School, Newport News Public Schools installed more than $1.5 million worth of security equipment in schools, including metal and weapon detection stations at the entrance of every school building.
The school system also secured funding to hire 45 more school security officers.
In the district’s current budget, there is enough money for 116 security officer positions, and Superintendent Michele Mitchell proposed increasing that number to 118 for next year.
But according to Mary Vause from the Newport News Education Association (NNEA), the presence of these security personnel has not prevented every school from requiring teachers to work the scanners. Vause told the school board in February that while it’s mandatory at some schools to help at the metal detectors, teachers can volunteer to help at others if they feel comfortable doing it.
“There are still some schools where it's not optional and I believe that needs to change,” Vause told the school board. “Multiple employees have gotten rotator cuff injuries from the repetitive lifting of student items that cannot go through the metal detectors. And working weapons detection at the front of the building is also a more dangerous job, given the tragic increase in school shootings in recent years.”
Snell ended up covering the costs associated with her rotator cuff injury because her workers’ compensation claim was denied. She said the district’s insurance classified the injury as a "repetitive" strain, rather than a single accident.
Beyond the physical strain and injuries, there is a “psychological weight” to shifts at the metal detectors, Snell said. By manning these stations, teachers have become the district’s primary first point of contact for potential threats. Snell said the role requires a level of training that educators are not given or compensated to provide.
Vause said she heard word that the school board was discussing a stipend for teachers who work these security stations, but there is no indication of this discussion taking place in public meetings.
Vause suggested in February that the district consider making it a district-wide expectation that working the stations for teachers is voluntary.
“You could talk with principals where it's already voluntary and figure out how they're doing it, or what incentives they might use at the school level,” she told the board. “This would make things more fair and less problematic.”
The school board has not taken up the issue.
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