Readers write

School security measures offer little reassurance

On July 17, the Gwinnett County School Board approved $23 million for Evolv weapon detectors and additional school resource officers (SROs), framing it as a step toward safer schools. In reality, it’s a costly illusion that avoids the district’s true crisis: failed discipline under Policy JCDI.

Since 2022, Gwinnett County Public Schools has deprioritized consequences in favor of a lenient restorative model. Now, instead of addressing student behavior directly, the district relies on optics — hardware and hallway personnel— to create a false sense of control.

Evolv detectors are unreliable. They’ve been shown to miss real weapons while flagging laptops and binders, causing delays and confusion. Meanwhile, the expansion of SROs offers little reassurance. Under Policy JCDI, many incidents involving violence or weapons are downgraded to avoid involving SROs — despite the public belief that their presence improves safety. In fact, the policy was crafted to reduce their role entirely.

If students who bring weapons or incite violence face no meaningful consequence, what is the point? Safety isn’t achieved through expensive tech or sidelined officers. It starts with structure, accountability, and leadership willing to reverse failed policies.

HOLLY TEREI, LAWRENCEVILLE

Alligator Alcatraz shows our loss of humanity

Recall graphic images of President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem inspecting the cage — like migrant center in the Florida Everglades, the magazine pictures of road signs directing people to Alligator Alcatraz, with smiling tourists standing beside them.

Jennifer Schulze, in The Week Magazine, July 18, says Alligator Alcatraz is an American gulag. It has been constructed in a swamp with alligators, pythons, multitudes of mosquitoes and no protection against the state’s 100-degree heat, humidity and hurricanes. There will be no air conditioning for the projected 5,000 migrants.

With President Trump’s mandate to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest 3,000 migrants a day, many will be completely innocent people like moms and dads waiting in Home Depot parking lots to get day jobs.

Is our nation beginning to lose its humanity as well as its democracy?

MARY SCOTT GOULD, DECATUR