Ask any student or faculty at CDM their opinion on the locked gates at school, and most guaranteed you will hear their long-winded disgruntled dissertation. The administration’s intentions behind our Fort Knox locked gates are to ensure our safety at school, but more often than not, our safety is lost in translation.

    Most recently on December 12,2021, our gates were not opened until 1:24 pm, that is twenty minutes late, as our gates are supposed to be open 15 minutes prior, at 1:05 pm. What ensued was mad chaos. Students trying to rush out the gates, packed like sardines, most not wearing masks , and parents causing a traffic jam in the parking lot as they are impatiently waiting to pick up their kids. Shameless parents are using the loop line as a parking space, and not minding the flow of the traffic, and further exasperating the students trying to drive out of the school parking lot for appointments or extracurricular activities.

    Teachers are also complaining about how problematic and inconvenient it is for them trying to exit the school gates, and retrieve something from their cars whilst the gates are locked. Senior Makar Briggs was quick with his response on this matter. “ I find the entire concept of the locked gates laughable. First off, there are many safety issues regarding the gate, especially with evacuation emergencies. With only a couple choke points, it is very easy for a dangerous individual to target and harm students. Also, some of the seniors and juniors may leave an item in their car, and can’t fit it in their bag, such as my friend who had a severe headache and couldn’t get an Advil. I find it ridiculous that I have to walk through the front office, when I come in through the high school parking lot, just because I have an open first. The entire idea of the wall has caused so many inconveniences for not only students, but also staff. Whoever decided on this project is obviously incompetent at their job.

    During the great shake out for instance, the fence caused the line of students to be packed like sardines, an obvious hazard if there was a real emergency, and we were all trying to evacuate. There was a bottleneck effect caused by crowds of students at the ramp exit trying to exit. Senior Mariam Hagh agrees and said, “ the gate is really annoying, and it doesn’t really make any sense. Why would you stop kids from entering a school through the high school parking lot, when they can just enter through the middle school office, or high school office without anyone questioning them? If you can enter the school so easily through the other entrances, then just leave the high school parking lot open, and stop inconveniencing the students”.

    The administration really needs to reevaluate the “safety measures” they have implemented for our school. The frustration is brewing amongst students, and respect is a two way street. High school students being disciplined like elementary school kids will not necessarily behave and adhere to stricter rules. Parents not respecting the parking lot and loop road rules should be brought into the conversation, so we can have our freedom back.