BRADENTON, Fla. — School district leaders in Manatee County are asking board members to approve a new position at their meeting Tuesday, that would add a specialized school guardian to their staff.

The position is titled ‘Guardian Weapons Detection Systems Technician’ and district officials say that staff member would oversee the expansion of their weapons detection systems while monitoring the machines daily and gathering data from them.

All of Manatee County’s high schools started using a screening system from the company ‘Evolv’ this school year. Communications Director Michael Barber says the technology is being used randomly at middle schools, but starting next year they plan to expand to a full rollout.

What You Need To Know

  • School board members will be asked to approve a new position Tuesday for a Guardian Weapons Detection Systems Technician

  • New position would oversee 'Evolv' systems at each school 

  • Manatee plans to expand use of 'Evolv' systems to all traditional middle schools 

  • District first implemented the weapon detection systems in August 2024 at all traditional high schools 

That means starting in August 2025, all 7 of the county’s traditional high schools and all 9 of the county’s traditional middle schools will have the ‘Evolv’ systems.

Barber says the system is different than a metal detector and instead uses AI technology to understand and screen what could be a weapon or used as a weapon inside a student’s backpack.

“They hit on things that are potential weapons and we find items that need to be searched,” Barber explained. He declined to go into detail about the specific items that have been found and flagged in student’s backpacks since this program started.

With the full rollout in the works for next school year, Barber says a dedicated staff member is needed to analyze data for these systems and keep up with machine maintenance and oversight.

“For example, it will send us information as to how many students have gone through each of the machines and we can check that district wide on a daily bases, or school by school on a daily basis, there’s all kind of information you can get from these devices as they are being used and we need someone to oversee it,” he said.

The district pumped roughly $10 million into school security ahead of this school year, which included upgrades to buildings at some school campuses as well as the initial ‘Evolv’ roll out.

Barber says the screening systems are leased and estimated to cost the district roughly $600,000 next year.