With recent protests by students in Washington D.C., we must evaluate the main reason for schools. It is to learn. Students are protesting the use of metal detectors and pat-downs. There is also a clear presence of police officers that can not be ignored by them. Students are protesting to get the attention of the media and the school district.
There may be some ways to lessen the damage being caused to the district's reputation while still providing a layer of security that makes the officials and parents feel safe. We are not really discussing the type of school violence that has dominated the headlines lately by random shootings though. These areas have a history of violence and students that have committed many crimes.
Providing security in a manner that is a little less intrusive is an important step. We can do so by using smaller cameras so there is less attention on surveillance. Access points could be made according to natural traffic patterns so that students are not bottlenecked into an area. Video surveillance could be used to identify students that have a bad history and those students could be put through more scrutiny at the checkpoints rather than all students.