Kalamazoo schools turn up weapon detector sensitivity after a loaded gun got into Kalamazoo Central; clear backpacks and X-ray bag checks under review

KALAMAZOO — Kalamazoo Public Schools has turned up the sensitivity of the weapon detectors at its middle and high schools and is weighing clear backpacks and X-ray bag screening, after a 16-year-old carried a loaded handgun into Kalamazoo Central High School on Oct. 16.

No final decisions have been announced on the larger changes, FOX 17 reported after a community safety meeting at the high school on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

What the district says went wrong

Superintendent Darrin Slade told the school board on Oct. 22 that he reviewed the surveillance video himself and that the detector never alarmed when the student walked in. “The weapon detector did not go off,” he said, according to NowKalamazoo. “As a result, there was no need for a secondary search for this student.”

That account still conflicts with the Kalamazoo Township police report, in which the student told an officer he set off the detector and was searched, as The Mitten Daily reported Oct. 21. The report also says that when KPS safety chief Donald Webster later walked the backpack with the gun inside through a detector, it went off.

Slade said the district’s review found staff followed procedure but also found gaps. “I don’t think we had the weapon detector turned up to the highest level,” he said. “We’re going to make sure that all schools are doing the same thing and all schools are consistent.” He said the amount of metal in a gun and how it sits in a bag can affect whether it is caught.

What has changed, and what is still on the table

• Done: higher sensitivity settings on detectors at KPS middle and high schools.
• Being standardized: the same screening steps in every building, including handheld wands for secondary checks.
• Under consideration: clear backpacks, X-ray machines for bags, and student and parent advisory meetings.

KPS began using the detectors in its secondary schools in 2025.

Parents want the video

At the Oct. 22 board meeting, parents asked the district to release the surveillance video, said they want to know how often the detectors are calibrated and tested, and raised concerns about how the district communicated with families. At Wednesday’s meeting, parent Nicole Phillips said detectors are “a great reaction,” but “we need to be proactive and address the issues within our community that are leading to us needing these things in our schools.”

“Transparency is extremely important,” said Taneka Dumas, a community violence interrupter who lost her son to gun violence in 2025.

Sources:
NowKalamazoo, Cori Osterman, “KPS superintendent outlines security changes after gun is confiscated on campus,” Oct. 23, 2026 (Slade quotes, police report details, planned changes, parent concerns, meeting date), https://nowkalamazoo.org/2026/10/kps-superintendent-outlines-security-changes-after-gun-is-confiscated-on-campus/
FOX 17 West Michigan, Keenan Penn II, “KPS weighs new security measures after gun brought into Kalamazoo Central” (community meeting, measures under consideration, Phillips and Dumas quotes, detectors since 2025), https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/kzoo-bc/kalamazoo/kps-weighs-new-security-measures-after-gun-brought-into-kalamazoo-central
WWMT, “Kalamazoo Public Schools to increase weapon detector sensitivity after loaded gun incident” (sensitivity change), https://wwmt.com/news/local/kalamazoo-central-weapon-detector-sensitivity-high-school-loaded-gun-incident-safety-public-schools-student-local-west-michigan-wwmt
Photo: PQ77wd, “Walk-through metal detectors in an office building,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walk-through_metal_detectors_in_an_office_building.jpg

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Tags: Kalamazoo Public Schools · Kalamazoo Central High School · School safety · Weapon detectors · Darrin Slade · Public safety