School district: OPENGATE producing results
The School District of Lee County’s weapons detection system has produced results, officials said Monday.
A three-year comparison of OPENGATE numbers, presented during a school board meeting, shows an overall decrease in offenses.
“Our No. 1 priority is safety and security of our campus,” Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin said. “OPENGATE is one of our premier hallmarks to make sure no firearm makes it on campus. From there, we are making sure we have other safety initiatives in place.”
OPENGATE is an automated system that screens backpacks and bags as students and visitors walk through. Designed to detect weapons, it also detects contraband items not allowed on campus.
Safety, Security and Fleet Operations Chief Dave Newlan said OPENGATE was introduced to provide a culture of safety and trust. He said they have had incidences in the past and want to make sure nothing is brought onto campus – weapons or anything illegal.
“We first introduced it in 2023. I really didn’t know what it was going to show and what made a difference,” Newlan said. “I am happy to see these are declining. Some does contribute to OPENGATE, and having better relationships and working together does make a difference.”
The presentation showed data for arrests, civil citations, and notices to appear.
Over a three-year period, total incidences went from 1,2318 to 834, which was further broken down by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Cape Coral Police Department and Fort Myers Police Department.
The Cape Coral Police Department had a 67% decrease – from 465 in 2023 to 142 in 2026, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office had a 13% decrease from 593 to 518, and the Fort Myers Police Department had a 6% increase from 155 to 164.
Newlan said the increases and decreases are a result of seeing much better relationships with students, more is being reported through FortifyFL.
“Something that is very important to underscore – we want children and staff members reporting when they see unsafe situations,” Carlin said. “While we see an increase in the Fort Myers Police Department statistics – there is a whole host of reasons for that. We want everybody to see something, say something.”
She said they are a school district that does not hide behind numbers. Carlin cautioned her team to not draw any hard and fast conclusions from the numbers.
“We don’t ever want to send a message that those numbers need to go down, because people can make them go down,” Carlin said about the reporting. “Everybody is responsible, including the children, for the safety of the school.”
The increase is in offenses of having marijuana, nicotine, and disruption.
“The major decline, especially the second half of the year is related to enforcement efforts and better relationship working with administration and students on building that trust,” Newlan said.
He said the Fort Myers Police Department had a small increase due to notices to appear and civil citations, with the majority being for marijuana possession and disruption.
Newlan said during the 2024-2025 school year there were 25 overall threats with the past school year resulting in 14. He said the major violations have gone down, and the minor violations have increased.
“Even if all these numbers are awful, the fact that we stopped two weapons going into school since we started – this makes it totally worthwhile,” School Board Chair Armor Persons said. “Those were two major things that could have resulted in something very tragic from happening.”