You’re running toward the doors from the back of the parking lot with one minute until the doors will lock. As you reach for the door thinking you made it, you hear the “click” and realize the doors have locked on you. Have you been a victim of this scenario? Has this ever happened to you? Well, you’re not alone. Many EHS students have also felt the joy of security. While many students, and even some staff members, are not very happy about the change, the school district had a very serious reason behind the change.

According to the Raptor website, the Raptor is divided up into three security groups, Raptor visitor management, Raptor volunteer management, and Raptor emergency management. Those three separate groups provide a variety of different security features. A few of those features include real-time incident management, integrated screening, and instant screening. The new security Raptor is designed to enhance the security in schools all over the district.

“The Raptor system is designed to ensure that, for anyone to get past our front desk, they have to provide a driver’s license and scan it through into the federal sex offender registry,” said East High assistant principal Mr. Cress. “The registry is updated daily, so that helps us to know that people who aren’t allowed to be on our campus won’t get through our front office and be wandering the halls.”

The idea came through other school districts that have used the Raptor security in schools and the positive effects it had on those schools.

“The Raptor security system has been used a lot,” said Mr. Cress. “The technology has been around for a while in districts all over the state.”

The school district started using the security Raptor at the beginning of the new school year. With hopes that the new system would work, the school district has decided to continue on with the change for future years to come.

“We plan to get a little more in-depth with the security,” said Mr. Cress. “There are some extra aspects that we aren’t using yet.”

Though the extra security was meant for a positive solution, many kids find this new security a problem.

“I feel like it’s dumb,” said senior Aleksis Powers. “If kids are late to school and can’t get into the building, they probably aren’t going to walk around the building and be later.”

This new system is new to all of us, but the underclassman better be ready to continue on with this change for the rest of high school.