By Ching Yuen, staff writer
After recent disturbing incidents on campus, a feedback forum was hosted by Principal Avila in the auditorium on Friday, February 10th, to create a safe space for students to raise their concerns and provide feedback on how the school can improve security.
The two specific incidents that were addressed at the meeting were the school’s fire alarms being falsely activated by several students five times throughout the day on Monday January 30th, and an unidentified adult male intruding the school on Wednesday February 1st, causing the school to momentarily go on lockdown.
Prior to the meeting, many students expressed fear and frustration from these events. “I felt panic [when I heard the lockdown announcement]. I just went blank when I heard it through the speaker, ” Junior Amy L. said.
Other students talked about the changes they’d like to see at the school. “We need better security. It’s insane that it happened and he was in the third floor bathroom and in the school,” Junior Gabriel B. said.
At the meeting, around 20 students showed up to hear Mr. Avila, alongside assistant principal Ms. Arkin speak about the details of the lockdown & the false fire alarms. They also addressed the problems in the bathrooms regarding graffiti. The two administrators also took questions throughout the meeting.
One thing Mr. Avila stressed, to address the concerns from the student community, was the urgency of having new technology. “What we found out is that not all the phones work. We let the superintendent know this is a serious issue. We also have cameras not working, “ Mr. Avila stated.
When a student asked about the failure of security guards intercepting the intruder, Mr. Avila also expressed disappointment. He said, “It has been frustrating. Everyone not a parent is supposed to be stopped, and signed in at the main office and get a visitor badge.“
Also during the forum, assistant principal Ms. Arkin shared some of her challenges with bad student behavior: “In terms of discipline I am not allowed to suspend the student for not going to class…Sometimes it feels like we can’t do anything. If we can get a student campaign I feel like we can squash that down.”
While there were no specific resolutions during the meeting, Mr. Avila hopes this is the beginning of many conversations between the administration and the students. He summed up the week’s events by saying, “This is a wake up call.”
