Every morning as I’m running to catch my early bird jazz ensemble, I enter through the Main St. doors with no security measures enforced on me. As much as not having to check myself in when entering saves me time in the morning, is this really a safe policy?

Don’t get me wrong, both DGN and the surrounding area are the last places I’d expect any kind of security issue or intruder. Be that as it may, my past personal experiences bring this skepticism to fruition no matter how safe this town may be.

While the area I first moved to in Louisiana was anything but privileged as Downers Grove, schools had similar security policies as DGN: if you show up after school starts and before the day is done, you’d be checked out at the front desk. At my school in particular, anyone could walk in for the low-income breakfast or dinners they would host before or after school. Not even two years before I began kindergarten in New Orleans, someone who entered the school as a new school janitor before classes started had assulted two of my future schoolmates.

While this example may seem intense, one of the victim’s parents brought up a very common motif of ‘I never would’ve thought my child would go through this’ or ‘I never thought it would happen here.’ Realistically, no one thinks that something so heinous would happen to them, no matter where they live. If DGN is trying to prioritize student safety, they also shouldn’t fall under those same fallacies.

I understand that students are checked in when entering the building during “school hours” between 8:20 to 3:20, but this allows anyone to enter through the main entrances so long as they’re entering before or after these designated check-in times.

Seeing how liberally security check students or guests entering after 8:20 a.m., I know DGN has the capabilities to enforce stricter policies. Seeing this stark contrast makes me wonder if our policies are more concerned with promoting school security or just giving out more tardy slips.

It seems so often that teachers will complain about how late students can be in the morning, but that wouldn’t be an issue if there was a more efficient way to check people into our school. I would understand a lengthy process to check in students to ensure their safety, but this value isn’t consistent. If a stranger entered with a slosh of students at 8:19, we’d never know.