Francesca Tolentino

With stricter school policies this year, students find them to be too excessive and unnecessary.

One thing that has become increasingly relevant in the past 20 years is safety and security, especially within our schools. Schools across the country are implementing new procedures to combat issues that threaten the integrity of education. From something as simple as AI to as horrible as mass shootings, maintaining a safe and fair environment in our schools is important.

But when do these rules become overbearing? When do rules blur the line between safety to invasion of privacy? Or when do they simply get annoying?

Recently, the school has started implementing new security systems through a student safety company called Securly. It’s a system that doesn’t do anything but make things more complicated. 

Securly Pass is a digital hall monitoring pass system through Securly. Instead of your teacher writing you a pass, you “clock out” to go do whatever you need to do, and “clock back in” when returning. This, with all due respect, is foolish. Paper passes have worked for years, so why do they not now?. You also need to “clock in” when going to the library during lunch/access, and you can only use one hallway; that’s just dumb. We are also asked to flex our IDs constantly; at that point, just give us lanyards. 

Securly Flex is a software-as-a-service tool through Securly. It overhauled the entire old Mustang 30 system, which didn’t have any problems to begin with, so why change it?

Securly also has a classroom monitoring system, and don’t even get me started about that. I understand that watching our screen prevents cheating and goofing off, but it’s just an invasion of privacy. It also blocks new tabs except Google Drive and Google Classroom. So I can access my Google Docs, but I can’t check my Email? Make it make sense! Also, playing games on your Chromebook isn’t always that bad, especially for students who get their work done. 

And now onto the phone pockets. Never before have I seen something more controversial than the phone pockets. Phones are a problem in school, and the pockets prevent cheating and goofing around. But it’s so much easier to have phones in a backpack than in a pocket. Not only are phones at risk of being stolen, but if an incident were to occur within the school, how else would our parents be contacted, an Email after the fact?

I get that safety is a major concern, especially after the shooting that happened two weeks ago in Minneapolis. But there are easier ways to prevent tragedies than just making student life complicated. 

How about instead of having multiple checkpoints around the school, put checkpoints at the entrances/exits? An incident can’t occur if a threat can’t even get in. Metal detectors are also a great way to prevent students from bringing weapons into the school. And finally, to prevent cheating/goofing off during work time, have the teacher walk around the room and check if students’ assignments are done. 

All of this extra security is getting excessive and wasting valuable time that could be used for other things.

Editors Note: This story was edited after it was published to clarify the difference between Securly Flex, Securly Pass and Securly Classroom.