Thursday, October 1, 2026
The sudden appearance of large metal detectors in the lobby of Freeport High School on April 20 sparked feelings of fear, confusion and anger among students, parents, staff and school board members, who insist that they never approved the purchase of the security devices.
During a school year when transparency has been a contentious issue for Freeport Public Schools, its staff and students’ families, at least four metal detectors were installed at the high school temporarily with no one seemingly knowing where they came from or who had given the go-ahead to purchase them.
The school board, led by President Sunday Coward, bluntly expressed disapproval of the purchase of metal detectors during a public board meeting on April 22 at the Caroline G. Atkinson School.
“I don’t believe in a school-to-prison pipeline,” Coward said during the meeting. “When I did hear that there were metal detectors that looked like we were in JFK [Airport], I was disgusted.”
Coward said she was told by Idowu Ogundipe, the school district’s executive business administrator, that last year’s school board approved the purchase of the metal detectors. That board consisted of Coward, Sonia Dixon, Scott Richardson, Maria Jordan-Awalom and Sharon Jackson.
However, Coward told Ogundipe that the board had never authorized the purchase of the devices.
The current school board trustees, Richardson, Dixon, Alphonso Hardwick and Dina Skeffrey, said they shared Coward’s anger over the lackluster communication and the presence of metal detectors at the high school, which they deem unnecessary and insensitive.
Coward suggested that Ogundipe was confused about whether the district-approved purchase was intended for small wand metal detectors, rather than the large walk-through models.
According to district spokesman Ron Edelson, Freeport Public Schools has used the wand models for years. For Coward, however, that did not excuse such a mistake to be made by Ogundipe.
“You are the chief financial officer,” she told him. “You cannot tell me that you don’t know what’s in the high school and what has been bought. I am livid. Our kids are not animals. They are not savages.”
Ogundipe, who was present at the meeting, did not comment publicly on the subject and declined to speak on the record about the matter with the Herald.
Michael Pomerico, former school board president and current school board trustee candidate, contested Coward’s assertions during a later board of education meeting on April 28, and said that the metal detectors were on the 2025-26 budget, like Ogundipe said.
“In the 2025-2026 budget, there’s a budget line for $144,000 for metal detectors,” Pomerico said during the meeting while addressing the board. “Please explain now how you didn’t know about the metal detectors when it’s in the budget?”
Coward acknowledged that while metal detectors were proposed by several community members after what she called an “isolated incident” with a weapon being brought to the high school, the board has consistently opposed the use of metal detectors in the district. She said that an item being on the budget still needs to be approved by the board, which she says was not done.
Coward affirmed that anyone who moved forward with a plan for school metal detectors, “did so without our (the board’s) permission and our knowledge.”
The district has since returned the machines to their manufacturer, Garrett Metal Detectors, and will receive a refund for the devices, but the district will incur a nonrefundable reshelving fee, Coward said. She did not disclose the amount.
Coward and Edelson both told the Herald that they were unsure of the exact cost of the metal detectors, and that it would be among several matters investigated by the district. The metal detector model seen in photos at the high school closely resembles Garrett’s Paragon model, the company’s most expensive line of metal detectors, which costs more than $8,000 per machine, according to online listings.
The metal detectors arrived at Freeport High School in the name of Michael Fink, the school’s director of instructional technology. Fink spoke at the board meeting, and said that while he was aware of the metal detectors being sent to the school, he did not authorize the purchase. He added that he was first involved in discussions about the district’s possible use of metal detectors three years ago.
“I was asked to look at what it would take to get students into the building more quickly in the event that a bag check was required,” Fink explained. “That [metal detectors] was presented, and it was determined that that was not something that was going to be appropriate for Freeport Public Schools.”
Fink said that he and his colleagues had moved on from the subject, until about four months ago, when, during a school security meeting, he was told that metal detectors were listed among the school’s budget items and had been approved, which surprised him.
“The conversations that I had with [former Interim Superintendent] Dr. [Alice] Kane and Mr. Ogundipe were to move forward with what had been vetted previously, and on my end, from that point forward, it was basically the same process as any other time equipment is procured,” Fink said.
Fink told the board and other meeting attendees that the metal detectors had arrived during the district’s spring break the week prior, and they had started to be assembled during school hours on April 20.
Although the machines were never used on students or staff members, questions and confusion began to spread among the school population. That day, word of the metal detectors’ presence eventually made its way to Coward and other board members, who demanded that the devices be disassembled and removed from the school, which was done.
Several parents and teachers detailed how the metal detectors had caused confusion and fear among students.
“My daughter didn’t go to school today,” one parent said during the April 22 meeting. “She was terrified about the security system we had, and she doesn’t want to go through tomorrow either. It bothers me because I can’t do anything about it.”
The parent requested that district administrators speak with the students to help clarify the issue and offer greater transparency to the community.
“There had been no discussion of any kind with our unit,” Patricia Langan, president of the Freeport Teachers Association, told the Herald. “The explanation given by our board members was lacking in honesty and transparency. For a board to blame one of their administrators who has no input in policy is another example of their lack of integrity.”
Coward and new Interim Superintendent Shakirah Miller told meeting attendees that after an investigation into the matter, they hope to present a clearer explanation to the community, starting with a town hall meeting on May 4, at 7 p.m., in the Freeport High School Performing Arts Center, and in subsequent meetings.
