Newly modified entry vestibule offers security, efficiency for visitor process

Ch-ch-ch- Changes. While students may have entered the building one grade level higher, their age was not the only alteration at the doors of West this fall. New security doors and a shift of Door Monitor Kathy Bechard’s computer greeted Wildcats during the annual ‘clap in’ event, which welcomes students through Door 38 by staff clapping for them as they enter. But, how “secure” is the new addition and, truly, how much will it help? 

Assistant Principal Aaron Herm has to multitask as his responsibilities, broadly, fall into areas of planning, coordinating, and in the case of the recently developed entry ways, maintaining order and safety. He sees the changes as an opportunity to have greater control over building entry. 

“This additional layer of security allows the school to verify the visitor’s identity and purpose,” he said. “We can learn who people are before allowing them fully into the building.” 

The new doors act as a “secure vestibule.” This basically means that West has narrowed its entry to one point, with two sets of doors, that allows visitors to only enter one part of the building. Before, in order for someone to get in, they would have to be in the building completely, or outside. The new doors, with a buffer zone, help bridge the gap. 

 “It has forced people, students and visitors, who are checking into the building during the school day to make sure they follow our check-in process before they have access to the rest of the building,” Herm said.

Funds for the renovation came from the most recent referendum, and members of the Facilities Advisory Committee felt a change was needed to help modernize the school for greater safety. The desire to remodel West, according to Herm and other administrators, has been a long time coming, and the need for modernity prevailed. 

“The secure vestibules were part of the referendum process that also led to other improvements throughout the district,” Herm said.  

 Bechard, the welcoming face greeting those who enter West through the main entrance, has been affected the most personally by the new doors and procedures as her job is to regulate who comes in and out of the building. Because Door 38 is now the epicenter for all visitors, Bechard has had to adapt to the modifications. 

“It allows the visitor to enter the door to perhaps drop off items for a student,” she said of the entryway’s efficiency for building and visitor alike. “They can then leave without ever entering the main part of the building.”

Berchard agrees that it adds a level of safety to the building through its positioning. The addition helps mitigate school to visitor interaction in a safer way than before. 

 “It absolutely increases the security here in the West,” she said. “It creates a buffer between visitors coming into the building and being in the actual main part of the building.”

Although the incorporation has added safety, Bechard feels it has also created distance between her and the students. 

“Since I now have an office and the double doors, I’m potentially not as visible to students as I was when I was out in the hallway,” she said.

Bechard, however, does not see this as a downside to the addition. Although she felt it may have been easier to form that connection in the past, with the new addition, those relationships with students will need to be fostered through different methods. 

 “It just requires that I find new ways to build relationships with the students,” she said.   

However, students are the ones who are primarily affected by this. For those who ride the bus, they enter those doors every day. Returning from appointments or coming back from lunch may also necessitate the use of the new entry policy. Also, retirement of some of the furniture surrounding door 38 has definitely swayed student opinion. 

Sophomore Jacob Schaefer acknowledges the safety, but also the downsides of the change.

“I think that it does a good job of safeguarding the school, but I miss the comfy chairs,” he said. 

He also finds the changes have altered the vibe of the building’s entrance. 

“I feel like sometimes it can feel like less of a welcoming environment,” he said. 

Junior Nava Lomena appreciates the doors as an additional layer of security throughout the building, providing more safety for the school. 

“I think it’s a good way to keep more security throughout the school from strangers just being able to randomly come in. There’s a system that they have to go through,” she said.

However, Lomena wonders if perhaps the addition of the new doors isn’t all that different from the previous system of entering the school. Possible dangers could still arise despite the additional set of doors, and fears of intruders still persist for students. 

“I don’t think it’s all that better. I feel like someone could still walk in,” she said. “Random strangers could end up coming into the building if they wanted to enough.” 

For others, however, the vestibule may provide a sense of security as it makes them feel safer here at school. 

For senior Charlotte Stellpflug, the inclusion allows for a stronger sense of protection from danger.

“I love the fact that there’s another set of doors like another barrier,” she said. “It makes me feel a lot safer personally.”

Stellpflug believes knowledge of the extra layer of security may, in and of itself, prove a deterrent.. 

“With that secure entrance at door 38, it might turn off anyone that’s not supposed to be here from entering the door,” she said. 

The change also allows for a better way of entering the building in the morning. Before the inclusion of the vestibule, those who rode the bus every day would be crowded outside, freezing in the cold winter with no way of being in the building before 8:00. Now, with the new system and new doors, people are now able to be “half-way” in the building. Especially on those cold, frost-bitten days in the dead of winter. 

Sophomore Micheal Smithson has had a better experience coming in through those doors every morning. 

“I really like the new doors and I think they are a way more organized system of letting kids in,” he said, “Mrs. Berchard will now be able to see who’s all coming in and out,”

Spanish teacher Alyssa Gauthier recognizes the importance of the addition of the vestibules in the school and the helpful changes she has seen. 

“I think the new doors are an amazing addition to the school,”  she said, “I definitely think that they will provide more security, more peace of mind, and I do believe that it was a necessary change.”

by Anika Flores

Published on October 2, 2023

Oshkosh West Index volume 120 issue I