Riverside High School students protest new metal detectors

MILWAUKEE -- Hundreds of students are planning to protest at Riverside High School.

They're not happy about new metal detectors.

Milwaukee Public Schools has had a long-standing policy to protect their students, but the integration of metal detectors at Riverside has students on edge this morning.

They say the detectors make them feel like criminals and they're demanding a moratorium.

The students would like to see community hearings take place on how to address school safety.

According to the students, the decision to implement metal detector scans in every MPS high school was decided without any student or community input.

MPS released a statement saying:

\"Two things are at the utmost importance to Milwaukee Public Schools: the education of children and their safety. Recent events have reminded us that public spaces and buildings are not immune from the threat of violence. With that in mind, it is our goal to have a daily scan at the beginning of the day, not unlike what fans experience when attending a major sporting event, at all of our high schools. This is a proactive measure and not in response to any incident or series of incidents in our schools.

Most of our large high schools use this practice already so this is not new for the district. This year, we have continued to move forward our goal. Students are meeting our expectations by participating in the scans and getting to their classes on time. When we begin a scan at a school, we work with students, parents and staff to ensure everyone is informed.\"