Schools beef up security in post-Columbine world

More than 1300 students crowd into Myrtle Beach High School every day. 

Gone are the days when they could just come in whenver and wherever they wanted.

In the years since the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999, schools around the Eastern Carolinas have increased security efforts, all to keep students, staff, and parents safe.

Assistant Principal Hugh Wallace says every student and staff member who comes in to Myrtle Beach High School now goes through a metal detector in the mornings.

Anyone who comes in late, along with any visitors that come in during the day, have to submit their IDs to be scanned by technology that cross-references the faces and names with others in a database of possible criminals or offenders.

Wallace said gone, too, are the days when teachers and staff could walk in when the students arrive, and the day could begin.

“We arrive before they do—we watch the arrival of students,“ said Wallace, who has been at the school for five years. “We have a separate entrance for teachers, all of these improvements have come from someone saying, ‘what if we did it this way?‘“

The metal detectors are a new feature at some Horry County schools this year.