School Security

Many parents who have enrolled their children in various schools around the city feel safe about leaving their children there for six to eight hours a day. For the percentage of parents in that population that have children attending J.R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, theirs is a false sense of security. I cannot speak for other Philadelphia schools but for the past seven years that I have spent at Masterman, I have made a handful of observations regarding our overall school safety, and it is less than sufficient. Although many students are thrilled by the thought of having the freedom that comes with having sub-par security, it is a threat to the well-being of everyone in the building during its hours of operation. To better understand the logic behind these statements, one needs to have a clear picture of exactly what “Masterman security” entails.

Enter J.R. Masterman high school and witness the beautiful marble floors, friendly faces, and to the left, a metal detector, x-ray machine, and two guards. It becomes the responsibility of all high school students at Masterman to place their bags, jackets, and electronic devices on the conveyor belt of the x-ray machine, pass through the metal detector and collect their belongings before swiping their school issued ID’s at the sign-in machine. This process must be completed before the sounding of the second bell at 8:15AM or students will be marked late for school as well as advisory (the fifteen-minute time period before classes commence, during which students prepare for the day). What is the purpose of this routine? It’s all for the sake of helping to honor the school code of conduct and for the safety of all students. There are, however, several flaws in this system that have perhaps slipped by the thoughts of the administration.

On the first floor, there is a total of five doors: all from which someone may exit at the proper time and only two of which someone may enter until 8:15AM. After 8:15 there is only one door, which is on the side of the building that faces 17^th Street, through which someone can enter, and visitor that does must immediately go to the main office. The other entrances/exits include: a door on Brandywine Street with a ramp for handicapped persons and the dropping off of lunches and other supplies, a door in the center hallway that leads to the patio out front, another door on the 17^th Street side that leads to the left of the patio, another on the 16^th Street side that leads to the right of the patio, and one more (also on the 16^th street side) that leads to the back of the building (farther down on Brandywine Street). The main office is located closest the door leading to the patio on the 17^th street side and the library is closest the other door leading to the patio on the 16^th street side. As you may or may not have been able to tell, the building is actually shaped like a giant letter “H.” At any rate, there are a considerable number of ways to get around Masterman’s security system, and it’s no secret to the students. Below are the most commonly known ways to breach the system:

1. Middle school students are not required to pass through any kind of security device. Therefore, if they or a high school student wanted to bring in anything prohibited, they need only carry it in by way of a Middle School student’s backpack.

2. No one questions students that decide to go to their lockers before passing through security. High school lockers are located in the basement and on the fourth floor, so the transfer of prohibited materials can be done relatively discreetly.

3. As far as students leaving the building during the day, the door on the 16^th Street side that leads to the back is the easiest to sneak out of. The windows in the back of the school are always covered from the inside and no one would see if a student were to continue walking behind the school until they reach another main street. As long as students have swiped in at some point during the day, they will be marked present and they need only have a friend cover for them by saying something as simple as “He/she had to leave early.”

On the other side of that, getting someone into the building is equally as simple. There is a stairwell several feet from the very same door mentioned in #3, so if a student were to get someone into the building through this door, they needn’t enter the halls, which would draw attention to the guards since the hallways are empty during class. What makes it even more simple is the fact that Masterman students are not required to wear a uniform, so anyone wearing street clothes that is between the ages of ten and eighteen would not look out of place.

My purpose for pointing out these faults is to draw the attention of Masterman’s administration as well as that of the School District of Philadelphia, because when students don’t feel safe at school (not as the result of issues such as classism and racism or bullies, but because of faulty security), no one should.