RR, no my school doesn't have metal detectors, and never has. As far as I know, none of the Mpls or St Paul public schools uses them.

Some schools do use security cameras. My school doesn't. We do have one security guard for 2,200+ students and staff, and one St Paul School Liason police officer.

But I support not having metal detectors. They didn't do anything for the staff and students of Red Lake. There really is no way to defend against the sort of attack at Red Lake or Columbine, without putting armed guards at every entrance to a school building, and that simply won't happen.

Even though I am in an area of the school that is often the target of shooters (the library), I feel safe working here. My daughter didn't feel very safe attending school here though. But that was because of bullying and in-school threats of violence from other students (both male and female) to beat kids up. We have had incidences of weapons being found in school.

I haven't had many discussions with students today about the shooting. Most kids clam up rather than talk about it. The most in depth conversation I had today was with a Hmong student, and we ended up talking about how racism was effecting the coverage of this incident, just like it did with the media coverage of the killings of the hunters in Wis. alleged to have been committed by a Hmong man from St Paul. While his family lives in a different school area and none of that family's kids attend our school, the family is well known in our school community. Our student population is roughly 1/3 Hmong.