How people sneak into our schools and blend in among us.
Public schools are open to all students but it comes with a major problem carved into its walls: a school open to everyone would also be opened to those who don’t belong here. Impostors. Trespassers. Intruders. They all could be among us. “I don’t feel safe because obviously our campus is quite big and quite open, lots of people could just sneak in,” stated Issac Liu, Farrington High School Junior. Liu continued with,”(I also) feel safe because I know for a fact that our teachers and staff are pretty good with attendance or making sure if they belong here or not.” Students' views on their safety in public schools are mixed, being cautious since the entire place is open but also having some level of ease, entrusting themselves with security.
Farrington High School Principal Alfredo Carganilla states,“I do feel safe, whether or not our students and teachers feel safe is another question; I think our survey results say that our students and staff are not as safe as they should feel.” Carganilla announced that starting on Feb. 21, Everyone will be required to wear a name tag, "too truly enforce how important I.D.s are. No I.D., no lunch” added Carganilla.
"We try to model our I.D.s for our security. Part of it is kids come in and out from our fence and we’re not sure if they have off campus and because we have 2300 to 2400 kids, the security doesn't know everybody so wearing a name tag would help a lot,” Alfredo Carganilla, Principal Farrington High School.
Liu would also go on to say, “I understand that I.D.s are important to an extent. It's good to have them so security could identify who you are, but I’m not too sure about having the I.D. clipped on you."
"We try to model our I.D.s for our security. Part of it is kids come in and out from our fence and we’re not sure if they have off campus and because we have 2300 to 2400 kids, the security doesn't know everybody so wearing a name tag would help a lot,” said Carganilla. "To combat intruders or anyone planning to do any sort of harm to anyone in this school, we have our lockdown drills which we try once a year,” stated Carganilla. Carganilla would go on with a story about how when attending and teaching at Farrington, recalling that he witnessed only two lockdowns at Farrington and they weren’t from anyone entering Farrington but rather what was happening outside or near Farrington. "A robber just robbed a bank so we had a lockdown. Its essential that the faculty and staff is safe when we get to lockdown. so we get training once a year.” said Carganilla.
“We live in a country where it's pretty unsafe, so I would understand why we need to do lockdown drills; I feel that they are a necessity” said Liu. To the people who succeed in sneaking into our school, staff and security go through the process of, "identifying who they are and their purpose is on campus. If they’re here for a meeting then we have them sign in at the business office, which is normal procedure” said Carganilla. Carganilla added that if there was a threat then, "there's a number of things we do. We call the police. e can give them a trespassing warrant, (or) we can ask them to leave, but our security is trained to ensure that if we find somebody that is going to cause harm to anybody on campus; that we try to hold that person in an office, call H.P.D and go on from there. Most times it's a warning and if not, we remove them from our office.”
When people sneak into school, they could be sneaking in for a lot of things. Carganilla infers that students sneaking in could be too hang out and socialize with a friend or sneak in to beat up a kid, while adults break in either because their trying to get to a teacher. ut as Carganilla puts it,”we haven't had that happen in awhile.” There is one thing that stands in between the dangers of the outside world and the people inside our school and that’s our security. However some wonder if enough is being done.
“Some people you ask, they may say they don’t do enough only because something happening near their room or building is not taken care of in a timely basis. I think they do more than what’s in their job description. They do keep our campus safe but at the same time. We make sure to clearly secure campus. We make sure to stop people from coming over the gate if they may be a threat or more than that but for me. I’m pleased with our security.” stated Carganilla.
"What makes Hawaii security guards completely different since I’m from the mainland is that the mainland securities are there but the securities here build relationships with students which is a good thing since the securities have a relationship bank with who they know and don’t know," said Liu
Public schools have the procedures and security protocols to deal with intruders breaking in but that hasn't stopped people from walking in unannounced. The best we can do is make sure to tell our trusted teachers and staff and to be cautious around our big campus.
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