School Security: What Students Are Saying

Sandy Mizhquiri

In the last few days, Whitney Young has been in a turmoil.

All students are well  aware of the threats made against their safety, but how do they feel about the new security measures being implemented? Such security measures include plugging in the metal detector which has been lying dormant for many years, a group of volunteer teachers, and mandatory ID checks. Here is what some Whitney Young students are saying.

Salvador Madera Jr., ‘19, “The issue of security is only being brought up now that a serious incident has happened. We shouldn’t need anything to happen for us to realize that security is a priority.” There seems to be a shared sentiment among students that school security should have been implemented long before any threats were made.

In response to Salvador Madera bringing up the freedom Whitney Young students enjoy, Juan Zermeno, ‘19, said, “I don’t think the problem is us having freedom the problem is that the school does not have enough security for the amount of students we have. For example, the reason why the security now doesn’t work in the mornings is because we don’t have enough security guards to have people checked in the mornings to enter the school in a timely manner, so we all end up waiting in line outside.” For those who don’t know, Whitney Young students enjoy the liberty of having an “open” lunch, meaning that students can leave campus during their lunch period. A good improvement would be having full-time security stationed at 3 main entrances around the school, such as the main building entrance, the parking lot entrance at the back of the arts building, and the student drop-off zone. This way students are able to enter the school safely through various entrances, which will help improve morning flow, overall making the morning security check process more timely.

Students have various inputs as to what improvements they would like to see, one such student is Marlem Olivar, ‘19, who said, “The security has been very lacking.” She suggests that students arrive earlier to school in order to no get caught up in the long security check lines. She also agrees that there should be more than one main entrance so students can get to class on time.

   The general consensus is that, while the newly implemented security measures are greatly appreciated among students, they are also very inefficient and could continue to be improved. Hopefully, the school administration heeds the complaints of the student body and works on continuously modeling better security systems that insures all students and faculty members safety.