The addition of new black iron fences and gates around the perimeter of Cal High has tightened security on campus this school year.
Gates and fences were installed during the summer between the pool fence and event center and administration building, the world language and engineering buildings, the event center and main building, and the wellness center and music building.
The fences and gates were still being installed when school began in August, but they were completed in early October.
“The plan for the new gates was in place from a year and a half ago,” Principal Demetrius Ball said during a press conference with The Californian. “Construction funds were set aside for the special improvements.”
Student Resource Officer Stephen Akascos said the new gates and fences were installed as a result of threats and problems Cal has experienced in the past.
“I think a bigger part is just trying to manage any of the people coming onto campus,” Akascos said. “Throughout the district, we’ve had other students from Dublin or Livermore…coming here during school hours, and that can be a problem because they’re not supposed to be here.”
The addition of the new fences and gates make Cal one of the many schools in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District to create a protective barrier around its campus.
San Ramon schools such as Walt Disney Elementary, and Pine Valley and Iron Horse middle schools already installed fences and gates around their campus during previous school years.
Campus staff said that the new fences and gates are useful because they help the staff keep track of students on campus.
“It makes my job and the campus monitors’ jobs a little easier,” Akascos said. “Once we check the gates and we’re able to close and lock them, it gives us a peace of mind too, and we can focus a little bit more on stuff [inside the campus].”
The addition of the new fences and gates are viewed as progress in creating a safer school environment, campus monitor Debby Croghan said.
“They made it a little better, because the gates secured the girls locker room,” Croghan said.
Another feature of the new fences and gates is that a key is needed to open them, which decreases the likelihood that unauthorized visitors can get onto campus. Teachers have keys to the gates, but many students have found they don’t need one because they’re often unlocked.
Campus monitor Tim Ford points out that a notable example is the gates near the pool.
“I believe the gates near the pool are finished, but some of us don’t have the key,” Ford said.
Teachers and staff generally have a positive outlook about the addition of new fences and gates.
“I do think the fences were a good idea because we have had a lot of people come from the [Iron Horse] trail just to cross through our campus without permission,” English teacher Ginger Clark said.
Clark said these outside visitors make campus unsafe, so it is a good idea to have gates.
Teacher librarian Jessica Bailey agrees that Cal’s campus will be much safer with the new gates. But she did note that having a locked perimeter around campus forces her to walk farther than she used to when the gates weren’t there.
“I tend to park in the front,” Bailey said. “So I appreciate the new gates, although I am a little frustrated that the music building has that weird little rat-maze trap.”
Students have mixed opinions. Some dislike how traffic around the gates causes an inconvenience.
“I think [gates] make it a lot more crowded when people are trying to leave or come in,” sophomore Anaika Khatod said. “It doesn’t affect me too much, but when I’m running late, it makes me more late.”
