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Luis Duran

Mr. Phillips

English

26 February 2019

Does locking doors help protect Leesville?

Over recent years Leesville has grown concerned with security in the school. We all know the

threat of a school shooting is present and has become a nationwide problem over the past few years. With

schools taking desperate measures to protect and increase security to keep students and staff safe.

Different counties and schools started incorporating new drills and protocols to protect schools around the

country such as arming teachers, increasing police on campus, and implementing new drills specifically

designed for this situation. Why does Leesville lock certain doors as a means of protecting this school?

One example of this is that locking most of the doors around the perimeter of the school makes it

really difficult and nearly impossible for students to get to class on time. Many students at Leesville used

to rely on the doors near their classes around the sides of the back or murphy building, doors which are

now locked. Since students can no longer enter the buildings through these doors their only other option is

walk through the main hallways with hundreds of students trying to fit through small doorways with

students moving in opposite directions. Another example is a specific door that is locked. This door is

near the door to the gym and is on the right side of the murphy by the multi purpose room. To enter the

murphy building through this door as a student one must open it with the left door handle because the

right one is locked, while those exiting can use either side. The natural and correct way to walk in a

hallway is to one’s right, the flow of students in between classes paired with this door that is locked in a
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way that prevents students from entering the building through the right door causes an immense amount

of traffic preventing students from entering the building. I know from personal experience that students

have a very difficult time getting through this doorway in between classes. One more example of how

locking doors does not increase security is that by locking doors around the school will not protect

students and staff from the greatest threat which is the students. Think about it, our greatest most

dangerous threat is our very own students.

An opposing viewpoint would make the point that by locking a select few doors within the school

we would actually be protecting our students from intruders. The way I see it is we have always been at

risk of intruders or gunmen entering the school which is why we have lockdown drills in place, but my

point is that especially in recent years it was the students who shot up their own schools. Take the case of

the school shooting in Santa Fe high school in Texas, the gunman was a seventeen year old student who

claims he killed people he didn’t like and spared or tried to spare the ones he did like. The point of this

rebuttal is that locking doors will not protect the students and staff from the very students who attend the

school. Another example of an opposing viewpoint would be that locking doors would keep the school

safe by keeping intruders out. While this may be true to an extent, the reality of the situation is that this

would only delay said intruder from entering the school which simply isn’t good enough. I think of this

situation as a very large nationwide problem and only locking doors would be nothing more than a

temporary fix. The real danger here is the students who pose a greater threat, more perilous threat as they

are only students and have the ability to blend in with the environment of a school. They have no

problem bringing in weapons inside of their backpacks. What could we do that is effective enough to

make it impossible or nearly impossible for students to bring in guns?

My idea of a better solution to this problem would be to install metal detectors rather than waste

money on cell phone pouches or even lock doors. For example, after 9/11 airports wanted to increase

security in order to keep armed terrorists out of the country. They installed metal detectors and new
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search protocols which dramatically increased security and helped stop potential threats to the country’s

safety. My proposition is that Leesville or even all public schools across the country should install metal

detectors as a more effective way of dealing with any potential threats swiftly, and efficiently.