After investing over $2 million last year to install and staff weapons detectors at four Salt Lake City high schools, district officials this month decided to forgo staffing the devices next school year.
The decision stemmed, in part, from the state’s rejection of the Salt Lake City School District’s $4.5 million grant proposal earlier this year, seeking its share of Utah’s $72 million School Safety and Support initiative passed by lawmakers in 2023 to help schools fund critical security upgrades.
Had Salt Lake City Schools won their bid, the money would have funded 29 “contracted security personnel” to operate the machines currently installed at West, East and Highland high schools, as well as the Horizonte Instruction And Training Center, according to the district’s proposal, which was obtained through a public records request.
“If the grant had been awarded in the amount requested,” said district spokesperson Yándary Chatwin, “it would have paid the contractor for three years.” That contractor is PalAmerican Security Inc., who staffed the weapons detectors for the 2023-24 school year under a now-expired $1.1 million agreement.
However, Utah State Board of Education officials say the grant request was denied because the district’s applications amounted to “supplanting funds,” or using new funds to replace existing ones originally designated for a specific purpose, which is not authorized under the law.
“The requested ‘contracted security personnel’ was tied to a program already in place before the grant, meaning this would be considered supplanting,” said Sharon Turner, director of public affairs for USBE.
(Michael Lee | Salt Lake Tribune) Weapons detectors in operation at Highland High School on the evening of an open house, band and orchestra concert last October. The devices are also currently installed at East and West high schools and the Horizonte Instruction and Training Center.
Chatwin said the district was not depending on the School Safety and Support Grant to fund the security staff. But when it came time to decide whether to renew the staffing contract with the district’s own resources, board members on July 9 opted not to spend the estimated $1.5 million needed.
That decision means the recently installed weapons detectors will remain at school entrances when classes start in August, because they were acquired last year under a $1.4 million four-year lease with Stone Security, LLC, but likely won’t be in operation.
The district could still decide whether to allow schools to use their own staff to operate the machines during after-hours extracurriculars or events, or find alternative full-time staffing solutions using their existing resources. But Chatwin said officials have not yet determined those details.
The July 9 vote came after teachers and students shared mixed reviews about the effectiveness of the devices and some board members said they didn’t want the district “throwing good money” at a “sunk cost.”
“I’m a lifelong fan of the theater,” said board member Ashley Anderson in June, ”[but] I don’t want to engage in security theater for the tune of $2 million. I would like to look at real evidence, and I don’t feel like that’s something that we’ve been provided.”
Board member Mohamed Baayd echoed Anderson’s concerns, arguing at the time that the district could use the funds instead for “the development of our kids.”
“I think that would be a [more] worthwhile investment than these weapons detectors,” Baayd said.
USBE asked district to revise proposal, emails show
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) A hallway in Highland High School, one of the four Salt Lake City high schools where weapons detectors are currently installed.
Among the roughly 153 districts and charters that applied for a piece of the $72 million in safety grant funding, the Salt Lake City School District was one of just a handful that were denied, a public records request revealed.
The $72 million was doled out through a competitive grant process managed by USBE’s Safe and Healthy Schools Team, with preliminary awards announced early this year. Districts were asked to submit one application for each school that would receive funding. Applications were due Sept. 15, 2023, and opened in June of that year.
Awarded funds can be used on a variety of safety-related expenses, such as infrastructure improvements, cameras, first-aid kits and security personnel. Schools have until June 2026 to use the funds.
According to emails between USBE and school district officials in Salt Lake City, the district was originally asked to revise and resubmit its four high school applications, a public records request showed.
Shaleece Oldroyd, executive secretary for USBE’s Safe and Healthy Schools Team, emailed Alan Kearsley, the district’s business administrator, on Oct. 23, 2023 — the same day the weapons detectors were officially up and running at three of schools.
Oldroyd wrote that the district’s applications needed to be revised because the plans included “firearms detection software,” which was not an allowable expense, referring to a letter sent out by Deputy Superintendent Scott Jones a month prior. Oldroyd gave the district until Oct. 30 to make those revisions.
A day later, Kearsley responded.
“All applications submitted by the Salt Lake City School District are requesting funding for contract security personnel, not firearm detection software,” Kearsley wrote. “The application itself notes that hiring personnel would be an allowable cost. With this in mind, please consider the applications as written.”
This time, Rhett Larsen, a school safety specialist for USBE, responded. He noted that while security personnel is an allowable expense under the grant, the district’s overall narrative indicated that the funding was intended for a firearm detection program already in place at all but one of the schools. At the time, the devices had not yet been installed at Horizonte.
Kearsley stated that although a contract for security personnel was in place for the 2023-24 school year, he requested that USBE consider funding for the following two years, as no agreement was currently in place for that period.
“The narratives could be adjusted to state we are simply requesting funds for contracted security personnel with no mention of the weapon detection systems, but the personnel would still be providing the same services as currently described in the narrative,” Kearsley wrote.
Larsen said he would forward the information to the review committee.
Records show the district’s applications make no reference to “firearm detection software,” which as Larsen noted was a prohibited use of the safety grant. Through HB61, the state had already set aside $3 million specifically for that use, which involved an entirely separate application process.
However, the district’s machines, from Evolv Technology, are essentially firearms detectors that use artificial intelligence to spot potential weapons.
“The weapons detection system will target large-scale weapons capable of inflicting serious harm or death,” the district’s safety grant application read. “Our stakeholders overwhelmingly support the use of these systems and recognize that it demonstrates our commitment to ensuring their safety.”
On Nov. 22, USBE sent Kearsley a denial email.
“The committee reviewed your [schools’] applications and, unfortunately, they were denied based on the requirements in the posted scoring rubric,” the email stated.
District believes rejection was made ‘in error’
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Security cameras at West High School in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. West is one of the four Salt Lake City high schools where weapons detectors are currently installed.
Kearsley responded that he was “disappointed” to learn of the denial and requested additional details as to which requirements listed in the scoring rubric were not met.
Larsen explained that the applications had not been changed “after being given a chance to reprioritize.” He also said the review committee was concerned about the weapons detectors already being used, “which would lead to supplanting.”
“While the comments of the requested services already being in place are valid, they were not in place at the time the application was submitted,” Kearsley argued.
Though the weapons detectors were not installed before the district submitted its applications on Sept. 11, 2023, the lease contract for the machines had been approved in January of that year. The district had also passed the $1.1 million contract with PalAmerican for security personnel on Aug. 15, prior to submitting their applications.
“Although the committee may not change its decision,” wrote Kearsley, “I do need to go on record stating that the requested services were not for firearm detection software, and I believe, if the funds were denied on this point, this was in error.”
Larsen replied that the decision was final. “I would like to express my appreciation for all that your district has done to implement school safety measures,” Larsen wrote.
Correction • July 29, 4 p.m.: This story has been updated to correct that Salt Lake City School District board members on July 9 voted against renewing the district’s staffing contract with PalAmerican Security Inc., which means it will not pay for security personnel to operate the weapons detectors currently installed at four Salt Lake City high schools.
Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.