Cal High is no stranger to the various incidents that have happened on campus and the solutions our administration concocts in hopes of preventing them from recurring.
But on May 8, an attack left a Cal sophomore battered and bruised in his sixth period class after three Dublin High students allegedly made their way on to campus with the help of Cal students, entered the boy’s classroom and fought with him.
An immediate safety measure was implemented within a week of this incident. Now, gates between buildings along with other doors around campus are supposed to be closed and locked at 8:45 a.m., 15 minutes after school starts.
The main building that accounts for nearly half of campus classrooms was also only accessible from the main doors in the center of the building. Students were informed in an email sent by Principal Demetrius Ball on May 15 that they would be required to enter campus through the administration office in the front of the school if they arrived at school after 8:45 a.m.
But these measures have not been as effective as intended because gates have been left open and unattended by staff, allowing students to skirt around the new safety measure.
Within a day of this new school-wide procedure, Cal students immediately found ways to get around the new effort. Gates around campus can only be opened from the inside if shut, so students simply opened locked doors for their peers. With no adults monitoring the entrances, this behavior continues.
While a serious effort must be made to keep intruders off campus and students safe, stronger more effective measures need to be taken next school year.
Closing doors and ensuring the quality of locks on gates is not as valuable a solution as demonstrating to students that there are serious consequences for allowing people on campus who don’t belong. This attack might not have happened without the help of students already on campus.
The San Ramon Unified School District must focus on is establishing stronger punishments to discourage students from doing something like this again. Is a few days suspension really enough?
Once the district can do this, then they can figure out better measures to keep intruders off campus that will be much more effective.
Because as Cal students demonstrated earlier this year following administrators’ decision to impose stricter campus rules by closing the parking lot during school hours and bathroom sign-outs, students will ultimately find ways to get around rules they don’t agree with. This ultimately renders these rules useless in the face of campus intruders.