New security measures at Rock Creek High School

By Joey McWilliams

BOKCHITO – The entrance to Rock Creek High School and undergone changes in the 2017-2018 school year.

News presented by First United Bank.

The southern entry to the high school building has had an overhaul to make the facility more secure.

Principal Max Rowland said the renovation helps the school to better serve the community.

“This is a security foyer,” Rowland said. This was the old cafeteria that was in front of the school and we redesigned it and turned it into a secretary and principal’s office.

Those offices were previously located in a different part of the building and anyone entering the building had to go past many other rooms to check in. With the new access point, the secretary or other personnel working in the front can access students for parents and guardians as they wait in the foyer.

“It’s a magnetic lock system from Four Feathers Alarm,” Rowland said. “A button magnetically opens each door to allow people to come in and out of the school.”

“If they need to visit with the teacher, then we buzz them into the school system as needed, instead of them just being able to walk in freely, unannounced. It is just due to today’s environment, we just felt like we needed to improve the security the best we could.”

Rowland said the work to make the school more secure would continue.

“Like with any school there are going to be a few gaps, but this has done away with 90 percent of our gaps. We’re still working on those others, but this is ‘Stage One’ in our plan.”