Student IDs and metal detectors will soon be the reality at HC

In the second semester, many safety changes  will be brought upon HC. Following many other schools across the country and modeling what other high schools in Fayette County have done.

“Step one of Manny Caulk’s safety procedures is that our student ID is going to be present at all times,” HC Assistant Principal Chad Carpenter said. “We are going to start requiring students to have visible student IDs on a lanyard to access the building.”

This requirement will start Jan. 1. If the ID is not present, students will face consequences given by administrators.  

“If  you don’t have your student ID, it is an automatic straight to SAFE or you have the option to purchase a new ID for a dollar,” Carpenter said. “If you don’t have the funds, then you’ll have to stay in SAFE for that day, or your parent can bring your student ID, but until that arrives, you’ll have to stay in SAFE.”

The IDs will be incorporated into students’ everyday school lives.

“We’re trying to tie everything into that badge, so there’s accountability,” Carpenter said. “It’s going to have barcodes so in order to check out anything from the library; we’re going to have scanners and to eat in the cafeteria, it’s going to become a scanning process instead of punching in codes. If you are going to purchase any kind of ticket that is dealing with a school related [activity] it is going to all go through the bar code.”

Administrators are still working to get all of the plans ready to go into making the badge for students. Much thought has been put into the ID as far as ensuring accountability issues and responsibility for students.

“To enter the building, once we get the metal detectors in place, the barcode on the student ID is going to be scanned first,” Carpenter said. “The more we can tie into the badge as far as access to certain things in our building, the more students are going to see how important it is.”

Metal detectors have been one of the concerns of many families. Administrators have been working to overcome the obstacles of the many HC entrances. They are finding solutions that increase safety throughout the school.

“On the implementation of the metal detectors, they are saying by the end of the school year,” Carpenter said. “But my guess is that they are not going to be able to have it done, because they are looking right at that March time frame so we might be out before they get to our building but we’ll see.”

The metal detectors will be placed throughout HC. They will be at main doors where there is a large flow of students, teachers, and visitors.

“We are going to place [metal detectors] in the main foyer and the big connector in the cafeteria,” Carpenter said, “so the bus drop off will be adjusted and the gravel lot will have to come through that door in the big connector. The parking lot in the front and the side of the building will have to come through the main doors in the foyer.”

Many teachers see the idea of the student IDs and metal detectors as beneficial and a helpful tool to ensure safety for all.

“I think that [the new implementations] are all related to student safety, and that’s a good thing,” HC teacher Jana Walters said. “I don’t think they seem unfair, because it sounds like all students will be responsible under that system whether it be the cards or the metal detectors.”

Students have also voiced positive opinions about the future implementations that will affect them the most.

“I believe that [the implementations] are being done to ensure the safety of us as well as others,” HC student Iris Brown said. “I do think that anything to ensure our safety and to ensure our well being should be done and provisions such as that should be taken.”