By: Elizabeth Pfannes @lilliz121

Boone High School has cracked down on security in the 2015-2016 school year. Across the Boone Community School District, there are 216 camera’s in the schools of Boone. The high school alone has 100 that are always rolling. There are camera’s along each hallway, along with in the commons, the auditorium, and the library, as well as in all the other main hubs of Boone High. In addition to this, each door entering the school is locked after 8 am, and entrance is only permitted through the office doors from 8 am to any time after school as well. The old activities entrance doors are unlocked only when there are games, such as Volleyball, Swim Meets, or this past weekend, the Toreador play; The Hobbit.
This security measure is meant to be there for the safety of the students so that people who enter the school can be monitored. The push for higher security came after the Columbine shooting. The shooting exposed the need for better protection for the students in public school.
There are both positive and negatives to the new system of security. It has been a good way to keep track of students and keep them safe. Groundskeeper, Mark Ashby says, “ We can track intruders or students from start to finish when they enter the school grounds.” This is a prime way to keep track of students, both to keep them and their belongs safe.
However, one negative of this system is that students who are in after school activities can not alway get into the school building when it’s needed. A recent example would be during play practices, techies who come and go with props from the school have a hard time getting back in each time unless the advisor unlocks the entrance. While being safer for students, the security system remains inconvenient. There are doors all around the school that have become inconsequential to anyone but teachers. A solution could be to set up a system like at the middle school and the front office where we can buzz in, or use student ID’s.
Each teacher has an ID badge that allows them into the building, it would be possible to do the same with students. Each student receives a school ID every year, if it was possible, those could be used as a way to allow students into the building while still being able to keep track of each person who enters, as well as still keep intruders out. I believe this solution could settle a lot of the on going frustration throughout the student body, as they could then enter doors they are closest to. This would also make parking less of an issue, because a large part of the problem is the vicinity to the school build. Having access to other entrances to the school then allows each student to have closer access to the school without needing to add more parking. However, this solution could have a downfall of cost and possibly the need for someone to supervise door access requests, which is an understandable con that would need to be very highly considered.
This security measure is meant to be there for the safety of the students so that people who enter the school can be monitored. The push for higher security came after the Columbine shooting. The shooting exposed the need for better protection for the students in public school.
There are both positive and negatives to the new system of security. It has been a good way to keep track of students and keep them safe. Groundskeeper, Mark Ashby says, “ We can track intruders or students from start to finish when they enter the school grounds.” This is a prime way to keep track of students, both to keep them and their belongs safe.
However, one negative of this system is that students who are in after school activities can not alway get into the school building when it’s needed. A recent example would be during play practices, techies who come and go with props from the school have a hard time getting back in each time unless the advisor unlocks the entrance. While being safer for students, the security system remains inconvenient. There are doors all around the school that have become inconsequential to anyone but teachers. A solution could be to set up a system like at the middle school and the front office where we can buzz in, or use student ID’s.
Each teacher has an ID badge that allows them into the building, it would be possible to do the same with students. Each student receives a school ID every year, if it was possible, those could be used as a way to allow students into the building while still being able to keep track of each person who enters, as well as still keep intruders out. I believe this solution could settle a lot of the on going frustration throughout the student body, as they could then enter doors they are closest to. This would also make parking less of an issue, because a large part of the problem is the vicinity to the school build. Having access to other entrances to the school then allows each student to have closer access to the school without needing to add more parking. However, this solution could have a downfall of cost and possibly the need for someone to supervise door access requests, which is an understandable con that would need to be very highly considered.