In today’s climate, many schools are looking for new ways to increase the safety of their buildings for staff and students. Whether it is changes in school policies, drills or physical building changes, it is apparent that change is needed to prevent harm in schools. Windsor High School, and Windsor C-1 School District as a whole, has taken steps to ensure its safety.

On April 4, 2017, a $14.75 million bond issue was passed to allow for new additions to be built onto Windsor C-1 schools. Finally, with the 2019-2020 school year, Windsor High School is seeing the results come to fruition. One of these changes is the addition of a new school entrance.

The purpose of the new entrance is to prevent unwanted visitors from entering the building. 

“There’s only one way in, (and) one way out,” Resource Officer Will Scott said. “It’s called a man trap. It’s the section between the two (sets of) doors. Once they walk in the main doors, they can’t get anywhere in the school.”

In charge of this  “man trap” is the newest secretary, Jennifer Williams. She is in charge of attendance, opening the doors to the commons (which lock automatically when school starts) and letting visitors in using the Raptor Visitor Management System.

“The Raptor System is like a security system. It is a software we have and it creates a database of whoever comes into our building, every time I scan their ID, it saves it,” Williams said. “It lets us know who is in the building at all times. It also alerts us if there’s a problem with that person.”

With this new system, all visitors are required to have their ID scanned by Williams. Those entering the building will be given an ID sticker to be worn. 

Williams said, “Once I scan their ID and all of the information is correct, and there are no issues, I submit it and it automatically prints out a badge with their picture, where they are going, who they are here to see and their name on it.” 

Visitors picking up students are still required to show ID to make sure students are being picked up by the proper person.

The Raptor System not only makes Windsor High School safer, but it also makes some of the Windsor staff’s jobs easier. One example is the school resource officer, Officer Scott.

“Oh, it’s made it easier to manage. The Raptor System does all of the leg work. Instead of me having to physically see everybody, that system keeps track of all of that,” Scott said. 

Along with the new system, he also mentioned security camera upgrades.

“Now, I have the ability to watch (security footage) from my desk, as opposed to last year, (where) I would have to go to a different location to watch that video,” Scott said.

Both Williams and Scott are impressed with the new upgrades. 

Williams said, “The measures we have taken are for (the students’) own safety. Unfortunately, in today’s day and age, we have to be careful about what’s going on in our schools, and (students) should just know that we take care of them and make sure that they’re going to be safe at all times. These little added measures with their parents having to come in and show their ID every time and them signing in and out with me is for their own safety.”

Officer Scott’s answer brought forward the point of safety being the students’ responsibility as well as the staff’s.

“Don’t let people come in through any of the doors. If you hear someone knocking, don’t open it. That’s the biggest thing. If students allow people they don’t know to access the building, then all of the money we’ve spent and all of the efforts we’ve put toward to secure the school are pretty much gone to the wayside,” Scott said.