Watauga Implements New Metal Detector and Clear Bag Policy for Sporting Events

Fans in the student section wear neon during the football game on August 30. Large numbers of students and families have attended home games and have navigated new policies including the clear bag requirement and metal detectors. Photo Credits: Zoe Critcher

Ria Titus, Staff Writer top for The Powderhorn

This year, Watauga High School brought forth a few new policies that have left students with unanswered questions.  Most of the policies have been implemented for safety or time management concerns. One of these policies mandates the use of clear bags along with metal detectors at athletic events like football games. 

“You can have a bag that's five by seven, that's not clear, but anything over that has to be a clear bag,” said Officer Seth Morrison, resource officer for Watauga High School.  “Then for larger sporting events, we have the open gate system, which is kind of like a metal detector.”

The metal detectors are a common feature among professional sporting events with large crowds. The high school hasn't had any safety issues, so fans were curious about what encouraged the changes.

“What brought that [the policy] about is just evolution of things, through most sporting events we go down off the mountain, and other schools are doing those things,” said Officer Morrison. “Our community's very safe and close-knit, but we also bring a lot of people from other areas when we have sporting events. So it's not just our people, it's all the other schools that we're bringing and all the other fans”.

Some spectators worried about what this might mean for those with medical conditions.

Diabetics, for example, might rely on insulin needles which might trip the metal detectors.

Administration and safety officials have plans for this.

“You can bring anything that you need medically. 
We allow parents bringing smaller diaper bags because they'll need things for their infants,” said Officer Morrison. "It's not set in stone for everybody, there are exceptions. If you need insulin or whatever you need like that, we're going to make sure that you have it and are able to bring it in”.

Safety is the number one reason for this policy and as times are changing it becomes more and more important. However, students, especially athletes, have a few issues with this policy. 

“I have to find one of my parents and get them to drive and meet me somewhere once I'm done changing and get them to grab my bags for me,” said Pacer Claire Thurman, 10. “And then I walk in the game. 
So it's a little bit more of scrambling around”.

Watauga’s Pacer dance team performs at halftime during the football games. They usually leave after their show, taking their bags with them, so not being able to take them in the stands is a challenge.

“We used to bring all of our bags into the game, and I would send mine with my parents. Upperclassmen who had cars would bring them out to their cars,” said Claire. “but the underclassmen who couldn't drive would just bring them to our parents, and it was really easy and convenient to just take our bags in, leave them, and then take it with us after the game.”

Whether it’s athletes needing their bags or moms needing to bring in snacks, this policy does present some challenges. But it is ultimately for the safety of everyone at the games. Things are unpredictable and with such a large crowd with a wide variety of ages, it’s important to keep everyone safe.

“Anything that we can do that will help make our school and community safer that’s within reason, I think, is a good idea,” said Officer Morrison.