This year students and teachers will have a more difficult time getting into the building during the school day.

Steps have been taken to monitor and restrict school access points with the new buzz in system, called Aiphone.

“This a district wide effort in enhancing security of the buildings,”  said BJ James, the building administrator.

All entrance points will be closed and locked during the school day. The only way students, teachers, and visitors can enter the building is by pressing the buzzer at either the Main or South entrance. Then a secretary, one monitoring each exit, will unlock the door via the new system.

Whitney Wilhelm, a new teacher in the English department, said she thinks that this is a beneficial addition to the school. “It is a positive change for the safety of the school, because it restricts enter and exit points,” she said.

Sophomore Michaela Rempel agrees.

“I like it because there won’t be the possibility for intruders,” she said.

Melissa Harting, a secretary at the Main office, is responsible for opening the doors with this system.

“This is a big part of my job,” she said.

Some teachers and students said they already felt safe before this system was installed.

“Schools are safe places to be. You can point at places that are bad, but that is the same with everything,” said science teacher Mark Manders. Manders said that he thinks that schools are normally places that have positive environments.

However, in contrast, junior Malik Taylor-Allen feels more at ease with the Aiphone system.

“I do feel a little safer now knowing that they are thinking about the security of our school,” Taylor-Allen said.

Wilhelm expressed similar feelings.

“It will make me feel safer because I will know that not anybody can get in whenever they feel like it,” she said.

This however does brings into question the potential effective or ineffectiveness of this new technology.

Mrs. Harting explained the procedure.

“If we recognize someone, we will automatically let them in. If we don’t, we ask them to come check in and then monitor them on the cameras to make sure they do,” Harting said.

Some South staff and students have different ideas about this system’s potential.

“It is great in concept, but I’m not sure how it will work in practice,” Manders said.

In contrast, Mrs. Wilhelm says she thinks this system could be highly effective if the rules are followed. “It will be effective as long as procedures are followed appropriately and as long as it’s taken seriously,” Wilhelm said.

Rempel agreed.

“[The secretaries and administrators] should know who looks suspicious and who looks like a student,” she said.  

Also, there are certain things that the secretaries will do in the event of a dangerous or suspicious person coming to the door.

“Obviously, we are not going to let them in. Then, the school officer will be notified, and he will follow his emergency procedures,” Harting said.

Some students might be worried about getting back into the school if they get locked out. While the policy of passes for upperclassmen to leave campus for lunch and to retrieve things from their cars is still standing, this new system will also be able to monitor students skipping class and doing things they shouldn’t out of the building.

“[This falls] under student reasons for being outside,” BJ says. “If it’s not authorized there will be consequences.”

“[The Aiphone system] is definitely worth my time to make sure the school is safe,” Harting said.