HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Dogs trained to detect bombs and guns are set to sniff out students at Deerfield and Highland Park high schools after the Township High School District 113 Board on Monday approved a contract for canine detection services.
Brian Ahmer, the district’s chief operations officer, told board members that dogs hired by the district will not be on campus until January.
“These take time, so it would be a projection of second semester,” Ahmer said ahead of the vote. “The first day of second semester is the most likely time we would move forward with this service. It gives us the proper time to roll it out, gives us the proper time to train the canines.”
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Administrators ran a pilot program during summer school at Deerfield High School with a single dog, and district officials described it as a success.
They emphasized the dogs on campus are specifically trained not to attack or otherwise interact with people other than their handlers while working to detect things.
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“The K9 team consists of a certified handler who partners with a certified, specially trained dog to work in the school environment. The dog is trained to detect the scent of firearms and explosives, and will discreetly notify the handler in the event of a suspicious odor,” Ahmer said in a statement ahead of the pilot program, which was then reiterated word-for-word Tuesday by Superintendent Chala Holland in a message to the community.
According to the contract approved Monday — at a meeting whose agenda described it as a “committee of the whole” meeting even though it was, in fact, a regular action meeting — District 113 will hire two teams for every day students are in school in Highland Park or Deerfield.
“Canine detection services will include monitoring and sweeping student entry into the campus, PE locker rooms, the quad during brunches, student parking lots, and other areas as directed by [District 113 administrators],” according to the contract.
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District officials agreed to pay Miami-based 3DK9 Partners LLC $48.50 per hour for a full-time team and $62.50 per hour for a part-time team, which is defined as one that works 90 percent or fewer of all scheduled student hours.
“All canines will be single purpose for explosive/weapon detection only,” it said. “There should be no aggression/bite work introduced to these detection canines.”
The contract approved Monday runs through the end of June 2025, with an optional one year-extension and maximum cost increase of 5 percent.
Last April, a student brought a gun to Highland Park High School, leading to a nearly two-hour lockdown of the campus — nine months to the day after a HPHS dropout allegedly shot nearly 50 people, seven fatally, at the 2022 Independence Day parade.
That prompted a push for increased security, with some parents urging the school board to implement metal detectors on campus.
Three days before the 2023-24 school year was to start, a 16-year-old HPHS student allegedly shot and killed Omar Diaz, of Highwood, a fellow 16-year-old HPHS student, on Green Bay Road within a few yards of the high school’s campus. Estiven Sarminento is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder in Diaz’s slaying.
In the wake of the off-campus shooting, District 113 administrators implemented a weapons detection system earlier than planned after the shooting, though some parents said students were able to easily evade it.
According to a staff memo from this week’s meeting, district officials have made a series of security improvements in the past two years.
They include visitor weapons detections systems at main entrances for visitors and late students, more card readers, better security cameras, emergency communication devices for substitute teachers, “restorative centers” at each campus and curriculum changes.
“[W]e regularly consult with security experts and law enforcement, evaluate our security practices and protocols,” Holland said, “as well as examine emerging technologies to determine what changes we can make to our multi-layered approach to keep our students and staff safe.”
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