SPRINGFIELD, Ga. () – The first day of metal detector use at Effingham County High School (ECHS) was Monday.

They were activated out of an abundance of caution after police say a student brought a gun to school Friday, but the new safety measures caused some problems upon their roll out.

Lines of busses were followed by lines of students waiting to get into ECHS school doors at the start of the school day Monday, March 3. This can be seen in photographs obtained by News 3.

“There were about ten busses in line of kids waiting to get off the bus waiting to get inside the school, waiting to get through the metal detectors,” said ECHS parent Sarah Arthurs, who son rides the bus.

Several parents posted on social media that students were standing in the cold for 30 minutes as they waited to pass through the metal detectors.

Arthurs told News 3 although her son was one of the students late for class, she believes the school district is doing the best it can with the resources available, and is preaching patience to other parents.

“I think they are taking the resources they have currently available and putting them where they need them,” said Arthurs, “Anything they are trying to do this quickly and of this magnitude is going to take some ironing out. I think the best thing we can do is model what it means to be patient and what it means to be flexible with our kids because they’re looking to us to see how we can handle change so they know how to handle change.”

However, she said there is room for improvement, suggesting the school district invest in more metal detectors or re-allocate resources, since the school district will eventually roll out the equipment to all schools down to the elementary schools.

“Prior to this, we had the metal detectors being used at football games which I understand there is a need for that in some situations, but if we have extra metal detectors being used at football games that can be sent over to the schools, I think that would be a really proactive way to approach this,” said Arthurs.

There were reports circulating among students and parents that the learning day Monday would end late because of the morning backup.

School officials sent an email to parents letting them know school would be let out on time, which is attached in the gallery above.

News has also reached out to Effingham County Schools Superintendent Dr. Yancy Ford for comment on how the school district plans to mitigate these issues moving forward.