Last weekend a threat was made against Lake Ridge High School. It was thoroughly investigated and found to be just a rumor. As a response to the threat, security was heightened and teachers and staff were actively monitoring students in the halls.
Alex Nguyen, Junior, felt the response was justified as any threat against the school and the students must be taken seriously. However, he believes that this will also mean students will be more restricted in regards to where they may go during certain periods throughout the day. Even though Nguyen agrees with the increase in security, he has reservations because he believes this may restrict some of the freedoms of the students.
“Personally, I think this response is appropriate and honestly, I don’t mind this security change too much. But I’m just a little concerned with the condition of the student body since these rules will restrict some of the freedoms of the students. I believe that they will take every precaution and start confronting and questioning students roaming around class and advisory times,” said Nguyen.
For Jacob Hernandez, Junior, the tighter security is of no concern to him. He feels this heightened sense of awareness does not impact him in any way. Because of this, he doesn’t even really think about it. Life goes on as it always does for Hernandez.
“I haven’t even given it a second thought, as it doesn’t really affect me or interfere with my schedule. I haven’t really seen ID checks any more than before the incident. I don’t know if it’s because I just haven’t noticed or what,” Hernandez stated.
Dylan Nguyen, Senior, cannot see how increasing ID checks will yield any results as he has noticed many students using the IDs of years past or even the IDs of other students. He does believe, however, that increasing the presence of police officers will help prevent an incident from happening, as they will serve as a deterrent. Nguyen thinks that the school’s response will be effective.
“The more frequent patrols by security is the only thing that I think will to do anything. I don’t see how having a school ID helps prevent an active shooting scenario, as it only helps us tell who’s who. The more frequent patrols, on the other hand, will help. The more people see security officers, the less likely they are to do anything bad,” said Nguyen
Officer Do, campus officer at Lake Ridge does believe in the importance of students wearing their school ID’s as a way to help prevent any potential harmful situations.
“From a law enforcement point of view, the ID can help identify that you are a student at the school. It doesn’t necessarily tell us a lot of information, except that you are a student here, but that is something that needs to be enforced. Knowing that, we know which student belongs here and which does not,” said Do.
Despite a threat being made against the students and a heightened response from staff and administrators, life still goes on at Lake Ridge accepting that our new reality will include a heightened sense of security to maintain our own safety.