SCHENECTADY (WNYT) – The Schenectady City School Districts Board of Education voted 6-1 Monday night to implement weapon detectors in secondary schools.

This is following recent threats and fights across the district.

The district held its last Board of Education meeting last Wednesday where the district announced its new safety plan that included installing the weapon detectors.

At Monday’s meeting, the board debated for more than 30 minutes if they should install the detectors or not before deciding in favor of them.

“There is like a desperation. There’s a fear. We’ve heard stories of children who have anxiety attacks going to school because they’re just so scared that, you know, that there’s going to be a school shooter,” one board member said.

Parents, teachers, and students all spoke some arguing for the weapon detectors, some arguing against.

“As a student, it’s really difficult being scared every day, not knowing, you know, what’s going to happen — who’s going to get into a fight, who’s going to get injured,” one student said.

The people that argued against those detectors at the meeting said that it could affect students’ mental health.

Over the past few days, there were petitions online arguing for both sides. Parents last week were complaining saying that they don’t feel safe sending their kid to school. This all comes after a 12-year-old boy allegedly threatened to shoot up a Schenectady school and then prior to that, two students getting stabbed in a fight at the high school.

The meeting took almost two and a half hours as public comment was allowed at the meeting for 30 minutes at the beginning and for 30 minutes at the end.