SEATTLE — Rainier Beach and Nathan Hale high schools are slated to receive weapons-detection systems as part of a Seattle Public Schools pilot expected to begin by December. The School Board voted unanimously this week to support Superintendent Ben Shuldiner’s plan to place detectors at school entrances. Both schools requested to participate. The devices, made by CEIA USA, are already used at district football games. The planned OPENGATE systems are designed to detect firearms and large knives. Aaron Blevins, the company’s national sales manager, said each unit costs $23,427. He said students carrying Chromebooks will need to remove them and pass them around the equipment; the company expects entry to become smoother after an initial adjustment period. The proposal comes amid a series of fatal shootings affecting Seattle school communities. Two Rainier Beach students were killed at a nearby bus stop in January. A student was shot and killed outside Garfield High School in 2024, and a student was fatally shot at Ingraham High School in 2022. Student representative Eliana Faunce told the board that such violence causes deep harm to school communities and should not be happening. Lonnisha Landry, whose son Xavier was shot and killed in Auburn two summers ago before he could graduate from Rainier Beach, also supported taking preventive steps. “I believe it is better to be proactive rather than reactive,” she said. Shuldiner said the district heard from people who wanted officials to try measures that could improve safety. The pilot will include feedback from students and staff on how the detectors work, and the district could consider expanding the program based on that experience.