scan in with their IDs. If they forget thier ID, they must get a
temporary ID. Photo by Kylee Johnson
By Gage Hyberger
The new ID policy is in effect and some students want to know why.
When you first enter school you must scan your ID to get into the building and scan out when you leave school during the school
day. You don’t need to sign out when you leave the building at the end of the day or to go out to lunch (for juniors and seniors).
Associate Principal Mark Larson had some thoughts on the new policy. “I think it’s going really well,” Larson said. “We made the change this year to increase school security and to make sure that the staff and students that are here are supposed to be here. Students have adapted really well to the new changes.”
I asked him how the new ID policy could be improved in any way he responded. “The only thing I would do differently is if there was a faster computer program because sometimes the computer gets backed up or has to refresh every now and then. Right now the District is working on a program that would be faster hopefully for next year.”
The next step, Larson said, is to get students to start wearing their ID’s along with staff members to signify that they are okay to be in the building. “Our first goal this year was to increase safety and security, and I think that’s happened – at least as far as kids and visitors coming in and exiting the building,” Larson added.
Long term, the next piece the school and the district will be looking at is how to make our building safer. “That may include things like having magnetic locks on all exit doors so that the only two places you can exit the building are the north and south doors,” Larson said. Right now those are the only places you can enter but at the district level they’re talking about doing some things that would make secured exits as well. The administration sees this as a step in that direction.
“We’re an old school with a lot of doors so there are a lot of different places kids can leave.” One thing the administration also wants to do is to encourage students to not let anyone in side doors. “We’re all in this together so,” Larson said. “So even if you know the person trying to get in, encourage them to go the north or south doors to scan in.”
