DOWAGIAC — Late last month, Dowagiac resident Virginia Collett was enjoying her day when she found out that there had been a threat against Dowagiac schools written in the bathroom of Dowagiac Union High School.

Though police said that they did not believe the threat was putting students in danger, school officials did decide to cancel school for two days following the threat. This resulted in hundreds of children, including Collett’s grandchildren, spending unexpected days at home right before spring break.

“They should have been at school learning,” Collett said of her grandchildren.

Now, Collett believes she has the right solution to preventing tragic events at schools and to determine whether or not threats are legitimate: place metal detectors in the school. Now, Collett is working to raise community support for placing metal detectors in the school district, as well as working to secure funding for metal detectors.

“If we had metal detectors in place, I don’t think we would have to worry about these things,” Collett said.

She believes that adding metal detectors as an added level of security could detect weapons before they come into the schools, and would determine whether a threat was real based on if a weapon was detected at the entrance of the schools. Collett is not the only Dowagiac resident who feels this way. Her initial Facebook post about the issue gained several comments of support and commitments to donate to the cause of raising money for metal detectors. Collett said she has spoken to even more people about the issue since them.

Collett said that her campaign to place metal detectors in Dowagiac schools is not meant to be a criticism of the district, but rather a way to improve a school system that has taught her family for generations.

“I have grandkids at Dowagiac schools. I went to Dowagiac schools. My kids went to Dowagiac schools. I even have great-grandkids, though they aren’t old enough yet to go to school,” she said. “I just want to make things safer for them when they are.”

However, Dowagiac Union Schools officials said they have no immediate or definitive plans to place metal detectors in the schools. Superintendent Paul Hartsig also said he did not want to speculate about whether having metal detectors would have changed anything about the threat incident last month.

“We don’t really have a position on [metal detectors] yet,” Hartsig said. “There are ongoing conversations we are having about student safety.”

Hartsig said the school district is not dismissing the idea of metal detectors and the topic will be discussed by the school board at a later date. He added that he understands family concerns about student safety, which is why Dowagiac schools have already begun adding additional safety features to the schools, including having the doors locked at all times during the school day, buzzing systems and having visitors sign into the school buildings.

“We are always looking to improve safety and to keep our buildings secure,” Hartsig said. “Our board really cares and is concerned with student safety.”

Collett has spoken with Hartsig and knows that the school district has no immediate or definitive plans on the issue of whether or not to increase school security to the level of metal detectors. For her, that is not a sufficient response.

“We have community members who are ready to do this now. We don’t want to have to wait for our government or our state to provide funding,” she said. “I think this needs to get done now. I’m taking action.”