With every new school year comes changes, and this school year brought about some new policies for Lakewood High School and all other Pinellas County schools.
One policy that stands out is the new locked doors policy.
In the “Highlights On School Safety” section of the Pinellas County Schools website, one of the new policies listed is “Locked classroom doors during all instructional times.”
What this means is that the doors to all class wings, classrooms, and hallways will be locked 24/7 and the only people intended to open the doors are staff.
The district’s website states that this policy is intended to “ensure that Pinellas schools are safe and nurturing for our scholars.”
And while I understand why they implemented this new policy that doesn’t mean it comes without its repercussions.
For instance, locking all the doors causes overcrowding during passing periods, and there are no staff to unlock the classroom hallways causing students to pile up near the doors. This ends up making a massive huddle of impatient students.
It also makes it difficult for students who are coming back to class from the bathroom or some who are just running late.
I personally have a first-hand account of how this inconveniences students. For example, I was headed back to class after a meeting with my guidance counselor and I found myself locked out of the hallway with no staff around to unlock the doors. If someone wasn’t inside the building already, I would’ve had to walk back and forth across the whole campus just to get back to class.
It’s awkward, it’s uncomfortable, and they seemingly last forever depending on how long it takes for staff to get to the door. It’s an overall negative experience for everyone involved.
What’s the solution then? Obviously, we can’t just unlock the doors. This is a district-level policy, not a school-specific one, so there’s no changing it.
So, what can our school do to fix these issues?
Simply just having a campus monitor or administrator stationed near doors or preemptively unlocking them before change is the best way to tackle it. Perhaps just having two or three stationed near the biggest areas of the campus would be ideal and make getting around the campus an easier experience for students.
