Many new safety policies have been put into effect this school year by administration due to school-related violence increasing nationwide. Students and staff on campus have felt the daily effects of this new school culture.

The policies include increased ID checks and more severe consequences for being ID-less, state inspectors who will audit the school’s safety procedures, and a door-opening policy which requires only authorized staff members to open doors.

Sophomore Gianna Schroeder said she believes the policies have had both positive and negative effects on the campus.

“[The policies] have been inconvenient, to say the least,” Schroeder said. “I realize that they’re necessary. I think definitely more security in the main walking areas, probably more security near doors, that would be great.”

The recent changes come in the wake of the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, TX, where nineteen students and two teachers were killed. Since this incident, many schools nationwide have taken several precautions to protect their students and our high school is no different.

“We’re doing the ID checks and that has been kind of our go-to,” Assistant Principal Logan Enis said. “The administration have all been trained through Texas State on different precautions and different conflict-resolution patterns. I do feel that we are very well equipped on addressing people that are not supposed to be on campus.”

These new policies have effects on the day-to-day lives of students and staff. Sophomore Jocelyn Olund said she feels the reasons behind the new policies are frightening to students on campus.

“I know a lot of the teachers have given pretty long speeches about what exactly the new policies mean,” said Olund. “One of my teachers literally said that if someone came in and they were threatening us, she would take a bullet for us. That’s scary.”

Senior Sabine Wicker said they believe that these rules have been loosely enforced so far. If true, these rules may not be as effective as the admin hoped for.

“I definitely see people breaking the rules all the time,” Wicker said. “Rules are only effective if they’re enforced, and I don’t see them being enforced one-hundred percent of the time.”

With these new policies, teachers are on the front lines of noticing and reporting infractions on these rules. English teacher Cole Miller said he agrees with the policies and that he believes they create a safe environment for students.

“I actually think the new precautions have made my teaching and the day-to-day processes easier,” Miller said. “I don’t have to worry about safety responsibilities as much, and I can sort of focus on curriculum. We’ve done everything that we can to ensure that the safety of everyone in the building is a priority.”