Coming back from spring break, students were met with some surprising news. All doors around the building, except for the main entrance, are now locked and have alarms to prevent people from leaving and entering the building during the school day (until 3:10). This new policy was met pretty harshly by many students and teachers during the first week after it was implemented. People argued that it took their freedom away and made it very inconvenient to leave and enter the building during lunch periods or after or before school. A junior at Chatfield said, “It is extremely inconvenient to go out to lunch because of how the new policy has clogged the main entrance.” Displaying how badly some people think of these new implementations at the school.

Mr. Thanos had some things to say about this situation, considering this idea was proposed and implemented by him and the Chatfield staff after he became principal. Thanos says that they started planning after the horrible events at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, in May of 2022, where a suspect entered and took the lives of many people through an unlocked door. For him, it is unacceptable for an event like this to happen through an unlocked door in 2024. Schools should be prepared for anything and value the safety of their students over anything, so implementing these changes to the school was a must. In a post-COVID world, things take a lot longer to happen, so even though this started to be planned in the summer of 2022 and has only been implemented in the spring of 2024, Thanos is just glad that the school is safer. Thanos wants to make sure students know that this isn’t meant to take their freedom away but actually to protect them, and the main goal of the staff is to educate and ensure the safety of students at this school. The district, although not requiring this, completely agrees with Thanos’ decision and encourages other schools to apply similar policies and systems to their own buildings.

Most students don’t mind these changes since they don’t affect people that much, considering most people use the main entrance to exit or enter the building during lunch, after school, and before school. A Chatfield senior said, “This doesn’t affect me at all, and I completely agree with this policy since it keeps us safe from outside threats.” Students seemed to understand and agree with the policy more after it took some time to settle in. Teachers have been affected by this more because they typically utilize the side doors more than students do, to get materials for their classes, to leave for their off periods, etc., but most teachers understand that these minor inconveniences are necessary to keep the 2000 people that attend this building every day safe. This policy is necessary, and it is great to see the Chatfield staff take the initiative and display how their main goal is the safety of their students.