Most of the doors around school have obtained new locking systems which consist of a keycard scanner, and people are wondering why they are necessary and how they work.

“About two weeks ago, maybe three, most of the doors have gotten all the access that they need,” assistant principal Shawn Wallace said. “Teachers now have them, everybody in the building has them.”

The reason behind this new system is not because of a break-in but simply the school wanted stronger security. If a teacher loses their key, anyone could pick it up and get into the building.

“So these new keycards that we have, you can turn them off essentially, so if I lose this somewhere I just have to call over and deactivate it,” Wallace said.

These new keys are also convenient to custodians and maintenance workers.

“So maybe if I was a custodian or a maintenance person and I needed to be in a variety of different buildings,” Wallace said, “I could have one keycard that would give me access to those different buildings, rather than have to have six or seven keys.”

The keys also give the computer a timestamp, so if there happened to be an incident, authorities would know the time the door opened and who opened it. The keys also multitask and give an advantage to teachers. 

“They double as both like your badge, your I.D. badge with your picture, and your key, because before teachers had to carry a key and then they also had to have an I.D.,” Wallace said. “It has your lunch card information and everything on it so you can pay for your lunch.”

There are a lot of people who have keys to the building, and there are many of them just floating around out there. The new door locks decrease the chances of security issues and increase student safety.

“So once we get rid of those and go to this keycard,” Wallace said, “I think that’ll eliminate the chance of anybody who shouldn’t have access having access to our building.”