Forty-three entrances allow access into campus. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting last Friday, Dec. 14, the accessibility of the multitude of doors at EHS has been reconsidered by the administrative team.
“The shooting in Connecticut reminded everyone that we needed to review our policies and procedures,” Mrs. Deborah Asher, head principal, said. “Every time there is something that happens at a school we get knowledge that gives us insight into how we can be more secure. We take all that information, look at what we’re doing and we see if there is something we can do better.”
The nature of the campus provides a challenge in school security that is unique to EHS within the district. While most school campuses are able to be locked down and keep just one main door open, EHS needs multiple doors unlocked during school hours to allow student access to all buildings. Many variables come into play.
“We’ve looked at student-travel patterns and where students use the outside the most to get to classes,” Mrs. Asher said. “We decided where we thought we could secure the doors and not have them open to public access and still give access to students. We took everything into consideration to make it as easy on students as we can, while not giving open access to the public.”
The main difference in the protocol change is that more doors will be locked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Signs will be placed on doors letting students know the availability of access.
Though this protocol change was enacted Monday, the administration team will be in constant review of the changes next semester, making sure that the changes don’t affect students’ abilities to get to classes while still enhancing campus safety.
“We want to make sure the students know this is something that we put a priority on,” Mrs. Asher said. “It’s not just about preventing something from happening. It’s about showing that we’re secure so that students feel emotionally safe and they’re not thinking about the possibility of being harmed. If you’re thinking about the possibility of being harmed, you’re not going to be thinking about learning.”
