Keeping students safe is a priority for school administrators. One of the ways this is done is by securing entryways, but this can be a challenge, particularly during high traffic periods like the beginning and end of the school day.
“A great deal of how you manage ingress and egress depends on the layout of the school,” says Kevin Quinn, president of the National Association of School Resource Officers.
“Many older schools are not built with safety in mind, and the ideal situation is to have one point of entry or exit,” Quinn says. One entryway makes it easier to have school staff and security available to check the identification of people who seek entry into the schools. “Another feature is for schools to have a visitor software management system,” says Quinn. “The security system ensures that people are who they say they are and that people who are not supposed to be in the school—such as people with custody issues—are not able to enter the school.”
One key, he says, is to have some way for people to be stopped. Another key element is having staff visible during times of high traffic. “People who know they are being watched are less likely to try to enter,” says Quinn.
This can be more of a challenge in older schools where there may be more than one entryway. In those situations, Quinn recommends deemphasizing other entryways and possibly locking them down so they serve only as emergency exits. In either situation, having an appropriate number of staff to monitor the doors is essential. Depending on a school’s budget, this may mean that teachers may have to assist security personnel in providing coverage during peak traffic times.
While having a primary entryway may have some security benefits, multiple entryways can make it easier for staff to monitor traffic, says Carla Young, senior project manager for Goodwynn, Cawood. “Security staff can get to know the students, and if parents try to enter the school they can send them to other entries.”
As an example Young cites some high schools that feature one entryway for 9th and 10th graders and a separate entryway for 11th and 12th graders, a divide and conquer approach that makes it easier to monitor a large student body.
Similarly, one entryway might be provided for people who drive, another for bus riders, and still another for walkers. The different entryways makes it easier for staff to observe and get to know the students that come through the doors.
“We have also been designing schools so that no one can drive up really close to the entryways,” says Young. “We have moved away from using bollards because they don’t look very friendly. So what we are doing is moving the driveway farther away from the doors. That way people have to park their cars and then walk up to the school. It is not overly convenient and it deters them from wanting to come in unless it is necessary.”
Young says most schools are completely locked down by about 8:15 a.m. But even after the doors are secured it is important to take measures during the school day when students might be changing classes. “One thing we like to do is design the school so that once a child is inside they never come in contact with the outside world, so that no one can access the students,” she says. “We use secured gates and are designing schools with courtyards, in a ‘U’ shape or a square, so that if students have to go to different buildings for classes or to go the gym, they are not coming into access with the perimeter.”