Editorial

Safety First

This school year, we’ve seen many changes, one of which being the new, stricter door policies. In previous years, ZCHS staff were more lenient on who could and couldn’t enter through the different doors.

Now, door one is the only option if you’re trying to get into school past 8:30. In fact, detention can be given to those who ignore this new policy.

And yes, this can be oh-so-inconvenient for students. But these regulations weren’t put in place just to annoy us.

School safety is a serious issue nationwide. As of March 13, there have been more mass shootings in America (115 according to ABC news) than days in 2023 (72 days).

It makes sense why school officials have these precautions in place. ALICE drills only get us so far.

We are taught these drills to prepare us for the terrifying possibility that we could have an active shooter at ZCHS. But in order to prevent us from ever being in that situation, there are steps that school staff and even students can take.

That very first step is to know who exactly is entering the building, which is why the administration has been so strict on the doors this year. If the doors are unlocked, allowing any random person to walk in, our safety is at major risk already.

It may seem like no big deal to allow one random person into the building. But there’s always a chance that they could be dangerous. You never know what anyone's true intentions are.