The secured vestibule not only impacts which entrance we get to use during lunch, but also restricts Grosse Pointe South students from entering and leaving the Fisher doors after 8:06 a.m and until dismissal.
I personally am infuriated by this ‘secured’ vestibule. Bond money has gone into this project and, quite frankly, I don’t think it will make South any more secure. If anything, it just complicates our lives as students.
Nov. 15 during seventh hour, the secured vestibule procedures were revealed to the student body by assistant principal Cynthia Parravano over the PA system. Confusion soon turned into frustration for many students in my class, many who use the Fisher door as their primary doors for entry and departure.
If I arrive at school at 8:10 a.m., I can only go through the vestibule door which will delay me even further from trying to get to class on time.
The class I have before lunch is located right above the Fisher doors and since I won’t be able to use those doors, I’ll have to go out of my way to use the doors by Cleminson if I want to go across the street. This may seem insignificant, but we only have 40 minutes for lunch. That means that I have to go to the Cleminson doors, wait in line at Farms, then get back inside South and find a place to eat. I could be left with only 15 minutes left to eat.
This has lead me to question why we need a secure vestibule when we already can buzz in and have security cameras that aren’t as excessive compared to a whole room dedicated to security.
I understand that with all the school shootings across the country that something needs to be done to provide additional protection for everyone at school, but I don’t think a secured vestibule will do anything, especially at South.
Since we have an open campus lunch, we are ultimately more exposed to the outside world. At this point in time, the administration can’t do anything to make South any safer unless they shut down open campus during lunch.
I don’t think the administration should shut down open campus lunch because the businesses across the street would lose revenue, the cafeteria and commons would be even more clogged, and, not to mention, there would be an uproar of upset students.
If the school system wanted to keep us safe, they wouldn’t have wasted their money on a secured vestibule and rather would have spent it on something more individual. For example, each student could have a keycard to get into the building.
I think the GPPSS had good intentions by trying to make South more secure, but looking at the bigger picture, I don’t think it’ll stop anyone from trying to get through other doors.
These past few months I have seen adults and administrators in our community argue over the Bond, and I bet not a single student could tell you where the money goes. This is a problem because these are our schools too- we’re the ones using them five days a week. It’s insane that we don’t know what’s going on until it’s finished.
I believe that as students we have the right to know about the projects going on within our schools and for the administration to a completely transparent with us. If the majority of the student body dislikes a project going on, then I feel that we have the right to be heard and the right to reject. We may only be the students, but we’re the ones dealing with all these inconveniences.