SOUTH BEND — The debate over school security took center stage on Monday with one still unanswered question: Are metal detectors the right move for South Bend?

The idea has been talked about for years, but some say the time has come for action. Three gun scares in the last 8 months at South Bend's Washington High School prompted the new debate. In each case, students brought loaded weapons onto school property.

On Monday, school leaders began debating whether metal detectors or other security measures might prevent that type of scenario from happening again.

Following the most recent gun found at Washington in September, many parents WSBT spoke with pleaded for the school corporation to consider installing metal detectors.

School leaders say they're listening.

"I think we do need to look at them, assess the cost, and the logistics of how that might work," said Interim Superintendent James Kapsa. "Using [metal detectors] would take a lot of time-- time wasted from education. However, we want everyone to feel safe."

"Something is happening, and it needs to be addressed," agreed the corporation's Security Director William Bernhardt. "If you don't address it, it's a liability."

But are metal detectors the best way to boost safety?

Bernhardt says the corporation may have no other choice.

"We have to do something. And at this particular point, they're the best things that are out there. The only way you're going to make the community feel secure is by putting in some kind of metal detector," he said.

But, one month after the latest gun scare on South Bend school grounds, some parents aren't so sure metal detectors are the right move anymore.

"I'm not sure metal detectors are going to do anything but make students feel they're in a lock-down situation. And having the bunker mentality is not going to help our kids," said Tamisyn Grantz, whose children attend both Riley and Adams High Schools.

"The concern for me is getting the kids to class on time. We have a lot of kids here. How would they do it?" wondered Washington High School parent Beth Dashner.

Still, both Dashner and Grantz admitted they would feel more comfortable about their childrens' safety if metal detectors were used.

Such is the dilemma for educators.

"We all want safety. But, to think of school starting with emptying coats, bags, putting them on conveyors, and everybody walks through... I don't think that's the solution," said National Educators Association-South Bend President Carolyn Peterson, a teacher at Washington High School since 1982.

"I don't want to see an airport-like situation. And even then, things still get through. I don't think you'll ever have a 100% foolproof system. And the airports prove that," she continued.

Another potential problem, said school board member Bill Sniadecki, is students' background.

"Can we do background checks to see if students have criminal records?" he asked Bernhardt.

"Not if they're juveniles," Bernhardt replied.

"What about our staff?" wondered school board member Kim Barnbrook.

Background checks are done on all school employees through the Indiana State Police, she was informed.

The problem is, if a school corporation employee has a criminal record in another state, school officials say it wouldn't show up on an Indiana background check.

Only a small number of employees transfer into the district from outside Indiana or Michigan, but doing a national background check would be cost prohibitive, said Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Myrtle Wilson.

Some on the board said they'd still like to see the loophole addressed.

They also came up with other ideas, from adding additional school resource officers and security guards, to fitting locked school doors with alarms that would go off if students opened them to bring in a weapon or other contraband from outside.

New "state of the art" security cameras are already being installed at all the district's high schools, with Adams and Riley already completed, said Bernhardt.

Plans are in place to add additional cameras to intermediate and elementary schools once funding is secured, he added.

But school security officials agreed: none of it will ever be foolproof.

"We can't rely only on the technology," Bernhardt told the board.

In fact, the single most important security step, they say, won't come in school at all.

"We need help from the community as well," Dr. Wilson told the board. "The community has to be active players with us in making it harder for students to have access to weapons and to drugs."

Kapsa says the debate about security isn't over.

School board members have asked Bernhardt to study the cost of implementing both walk through and hand-held "wand" type metal detectors in all the corporation's high schools.

They've also asked for a study showing whether metal detectors are a real deterrent to students bringing weapons onto school property.

Bernhardt says he already knows what it will show.

"Columbine High School had metal detectors," he said with a shrug. "But, if we put them in, the next step would be a strict policy on how they'd be used."

Board members hope to debate the issue again within the next few months.