Many of the students may have noticed, we have a locked door policy here at Laramie High School. This means that at most times of the day, every door except the front door, (by the main office) is locked. Many of the other doors are always locked. It has been made very clear by the administration this is done for safety reasons. The administration feels this must be done for safety reasons. Many students feel this system is illogical, and should be changed.

There have been many safety concerns changing within public schools lately. This is mainly due to the acts of violence we are seeing in schools throughout the country. Due to this, schools have been changing policies for safety. The administration is locking these doors for our safety. The locking of the doors hypothetically will make it harder for a stranger/potential criminal to enter our school without the administration knowing.

The other side argues that the locked doors cause a hassle for the students. One large issue with the locked doors is the placement of the open doors. The only doors open are at the front of the school, the opposite side of where the administration allows the students to park. This means that if a student for some reason must enter the school, they must walk all the way around the outside of the school. This takes a lot of time that could be spent learning in class, and is also hard on a student in the cold weather we face most times of the school year. Locking these doors does not stop people from entering through them; it forces people to find other ways to get in through these doors. This creates an even worse safety issue. It proves that a stranger could get in, and due to the locked doors, nobody would expect it, thus they would be more likely to not be noticed.

I feel that a very good solution for this would be opening the doors by the auditorium. These doors are the closest to the student parking lot, and are also not hard to observe. With the camera systems in place, and the fact that these doors are also very close to the main office, observing who enters our school should not be a problem for the administration. This would cut out much of the hassle for the students, and make much more sense. It would also actually help the safety of the students. Surveillance would be better at those doors.