What’s In Place to Keep You Safe

With all that has happened in the past year, school security has become a major concern. This leaves us with one question: What is being done to ensure the safety of the students in our school? Yes, we all have to wear ID cards, but there are also other policies being put into place to ensure that every person inside Hills West is kept safe. Police cars have been stationed at West periodically to protect everyone inside. An email was sent to the parents and guardians of students, stating that the police presence is a part of a new initiative by the county, in which police officers check in on the schools in the county on a random basis. This is meant to allow the students to get to know the officers, and the officers to get to know the school layout, safety procedures, students and faculty.  Furthermore, I am sure almost everyone has seen the new machine stationed by the attendance office. This machine is used to make sure all IDs of those entering the school throughout the day are real. Any person who enters the school during the day, even if it is just to sign out a student, has to enter through the main doors, and have their ID checked using the UV light on the machine. Every other entrance to the school remains locked throughout the day. The machine scans driver’s licenses in order to make a visitors pass for the guest. The pass includes a picture of the person entering. If someone does not have their driver’s license when they enter the school, the security guard will use a credit card to enter the information required for the ID sticker manually. Then, they will take a picture of the person using a camera on top of the machine. The machine also scans the IDs to check for a history of custody issues or sexual assault. This way, everyone in the school knows exactly who has entered, and potentially dangerous people are prevented from entering.  All of these policies and ideas are attempts to protect everyone inside the school from any potential threats.