New school makes multiple safety improvements

Safety measures at the new high school have been further improved and added to in order to keep students safe. Even so, students are still questioning safety.

Ever since the new high school was being built safety has been a top priority. Students and parents complained about the old high school’s excessive number of exits and confusing interior. Now, at the new building,  there are double the cameras, AD machines, and an improved layout to make it easier to navigate with less troublesome exits.

In addition to newer safety measures, the old were replaced with the new. Many students and staff while walking around the school may notice that there are no fire alarm pulls in the building, them being replaced with sensors, with the only exceptions being in the FCS room. These sensors will detect smoke particles and can also notice a significant change in the room’s temperature and will sound the alarm if they believe there is a fire.   

However, students are skeptical. Senior Maddigan Hannan noted about their ‘bugginess’ in regards to past false alarms. Sophomore Isabella O’Brien worries about the reliability of the sensors and possible faultiness.

Others believe they are a good addition. Students like Senior Aiden Rock commented on how they could stop unwanted pulling, and other students also agreed but commented on the lack of pulls in the science classrooms and their fire hazards.

Associate Principal and safety committee coordinator Rafeal Benetiz said although unwanted pulling has been an issue, the main reason why they were replaced is due to the recent spike in school shootings.

“As you’re probably aware, there have been a lot of school shootings throughout the nation.” Benitez said. “What we found was, unfortunately, in situations where there was an intruder, they would pull the alarm to bring kids out.” 

Another addition students are uneasy about is the new windows. Most classrooms have a window out into the hallway, allowing people walking past to see inside. Junior Mattea Sink worries about the possibility of dangerous intruders and visibility inside the classrooms.

“In the old building, the whole situation of hunkering down because you can’t see anything was impractical, whereas here you could see if someone was approaching you and make a decision based on that,” Benetiz said. 

Overall, the safety of the new building when compared to the old has greatly increased. With these new changes and additions students can hopefully feel safer walking from class to class as they move from the high school and into the future.