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Permission to detect at schools

k2gleaner

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Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
519
Location
NC
What is the best way, or who is the best person, to ask when you would like to detect on a school property?

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What is the best way, or who is the best person, to ask when you would like to detect on a school property?

I want to say that you might only get one shot at getting permission but that might depend on the school. For example, asking the principal of a private board run School might not be the final answer if you can find out who the president of the school board is. maybe the principle, though, of a public school might be as far as you'll get.maybe talking to a teacher that you know at the school maybe one way to go at it.

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Never ask to hunt public school property. Ever. Tom will be along to explain...


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If somebody tells you to stop, then apologize for the misunderstanding and immediately leave. Don't argue. You want them to forget about you. You don't want to be the subject of an email or a district wide memo.

Don't go when school is in session, or during any other after school activity.

Personally, I would never bring a shovel. I also don't detect right up against the school.

Stay away from landscaped areas and turf grass sports fields.

When I've detected at schools I've brought along a garbage bag and picked up trash as I went along.
 
Never ever ask at a public school. Go early like at sunrise on a Sunday morning or during holidays.
Be invisible leave no trace. Remove all trash even on the surface.

Remember public means we the people pay for it with our taxes.
 
Never ask to hunt public school property. Ever. Tom will be along to explain...

haha, yes, a "bee in my bonnet" :roll:

You, history-hippy, toy-soldier, & kingman-mikey already answered it.

Naturally, there's a "million shades of grey". It's *possible* that some school could be "buttoned up like Ft. Knox", or whatever. But for the run-of-the-mill schools, where there's typically a propped open gate , then I just go.

There might be an "obligatory" sign saying "visitors check in at the office" blah blah. But if you see others who jog the track, shoot hoops, walk their dogs, etc...: Then I consider md'ing to be equally as harmless and innocuous.
 
I would not ask anyone about detecting a school yard. Now I do keep some jars in my truck full of glass, sharp metal, pencils and pens that I do remove.
However I drove a bus for our local school system and more than once I ran into our superintendent at our local health club. I explained to him what I did and the only thing he said to me was. Sounds like you are doing us a favor.
 
There might be an "obligatory" sign saying "visitors check in at the office" blah blah. But if you see others who jog the track, shoot hoops, walk their dogs, etc...: Then I consider md'ing to be equally as harmless and innocuous.

I hunted a public school playground a few weekends ago and was surprised (in this day and age) to see a sign that read "Playground Open To Public During Daylight Hours When School Not in Session."
 
Not a shred of bad advice on this entire thread so far. No one argued for the need to ask for "princely permissions" (one of my favorite Tomisms) or fretted about possible arrest because they heard about that happening to somebody.

Rejoice! The Gospel according to Tom has finally spread far and wide through our community. Tom's proselytizing is finally taking root!:sun:
 
Surprisingly my local school has a sign stating that dogs cannot be walked on the grass. It does not, however, say anything about metal detecting. I agree with the philosophy of go when it’s not in session and nobody is around
 
I think I was overthinking this!
Thanks for the advice, all around.


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If somebody tells you to stop, then apologize for the misunderstanding and immediately leave. Don't argue. You want them to forget about you. You don't want to be the subject of an email or a district wide memo.

Don't go when school is in session, or during any other after school activity.

Personally, I would never bring a shovel. I also don't detect right up against the school.

Stay away from landscaped areas and turf grass sports fields.

When I've detected at schools I've brought along a garbage bag and picked up trash as I went along.
Ditto.. good advice
 
Our local high school has a fence around where I want to detect (the football field and stands)...and it's not propped open so I won't go there. Any public school that's NOT fenced in though I consider fair game, primarily because it is.

A private school is an entirely different matter. That's (most of the time) private property and should be treated as such, regardless of whether or not some people walk the trails, play basketball, cut through the property etc.

My take on it is (and some will disagree with me), if it's private property, and you wouldn't ride dirt bikes on the turf without permission, don't detect there without permission.
 
I hunt my kids school all the time. It's an academy not public. It started as a farm house school back in 1800's and has a different structure overtop of the original farm house since 1980's. As for asking permision I think it depends on the state your in, local detecting laws in your area and a feel for how protective the school is about the property your wanting to detect. Here in Michigan, Metal Detecting on public property is mostly permitted but there can be some exceptions. However, In other states the local laws of public metal detecting may not be permitted or permitted only with an issued liscense. I think states like MD and Virgina are more strict about public MD and require permits or don't allow it at all. At the school I hunt I asked the grounds keeper and he was cool about it. His biggest concern was damage to the grass because past metal detectorist tore up the ground and left holes. As others have stated, the most important thing is detecting when the kids are NOT in school or during after school activities. Schools are very protective about anyone being on the grounds during class time as they should be. It's their job to keep students safe and question or report any unusal activity on school grounds.
I usual go an hour after school is out, although I try to stay away from the building with latchkey (after school day daycare). Most schools around me have one. Weekends are really the best time though.
 
I agree with everyone else. Public schools with open lots/ areas are open season. I've hunted the elementary school up the road several times. Like others have said, I wouldn't recommend going when school is in session or other events are taking place. Just hit it on Sat or Sun and during the summer...
 
Every school in my area is fenced with locked gates. But if I should find a gate open and no one is around all they can do is run me off Its illegal to kill me.
 
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