You are walking in the locker room after gym class, out of breath and sweaty. You only have a limited time to change, the security guards reminding everyone how much time left. The suspension makes you feel overwhelmed to hurry but feel like you are constantly being watched in the middle of it, hoping you don’t get suspicioned for anything you haven’t done. The time is up and everyone is being rushed out to get to class but you still need more time.
The locker room recently has more security and a stricter changing time here at Leyden. Students say it’s unnecessary for such measures, while on the other hand, people see it as a way to keep the kids on time and safe from harm.
Before this new addition, Students would be sent to change for ten minutes but be taking a long time in the locker room, causing lots of tardies and affecting students academically. On top of that students took the unsupervised advantage doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing, causing harm towards other students. Now throughout the last couple of years, security are in the locker rooms, supervising the students to stay on time and prevent altercations between students.
According to Robson Forensic, “School locker rooms are a known area of vulnerability for incidents involving hazing, bullying, harassment, or abuse between students.”
Some people do think that the security in the locker rooms does help keep the student’s safe.Jessica Palma, a junior at the West campus says “they should have security in the locker rooms at some points, because my freshman year, there was an actual altercation with some kids in the locker room, and they had put security in there. But then at some point she stopped going in and when she wasn’t there, the fight actually went down.”
Other students agree that the security should be in locker rooms to prevent violence and further tardies. Ray Delarosa, a Sophomore at the west campus, states, “Locker rooms are intimate places. It’s really good to have security outside of them instead of inside to assure anybody who isn’t supposed to be there gets in. It keeps students on time, as well as keeps an adult in close range in case of a fight’”
According to NFHS its states “ The presence of adults in the locker room is critical to maintaining a safe and positive environment”
“Teenagers tend to do things they aren’t supposed to in there” Says Evelin Perez “ now with security guards in there everyone is more safe and less accidents tend to happen”
Other people think there isn’t so much of a role for security to be in the locker rooms, as nothing really happens, and how uncomfortable it can be. Sophomore, Evelyn Amaro, a student from East, Says that “ The security being there doesn’t make it safer. I would say it adds pressure and just feels uncomfortable with them watching us change and trying to make unnecessary conversation and constantly yelling every 5 seconds to leave.”
A Security guard at the west campus really cares about the students feeling comfortable. She says very sincerely; “I try to stay away from them when they’re getting dressed. I don’t stand there, you know, I go to the side because I don’t want to interrupt them.” She also adds on and states, “I haven’t heard anything about any theft or graffiti. I haven’t seen that since I’ve been here doing security. So, I think you know what we’re doing is working
This addition has just started more recently for the past years and will hopefully improve by the students’ responses and opinions about their locker room concerns. In the end, the school will do what’s best to keep the students from any harm and make the learning environment better for everyone.
Works Cited
Kiehl, Gregory. “Locker Room Hazing.” The Experts Robson Forsenic, 28 Aug. 2023, www.robsonforensic.com/articles/locker-room-hazing-expert. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
“School locker rooms are a known area of vulnerability for incidents involving hazing, bullying, harassment, or abuse between students.”
Pennepacker, Peg. “Tips and Techniques for Locker Room Supervision.” NFHS, 5 Oct. 2022, www.nfhs.org/articles/tips-and-techniques-for-locker-room-supervision/.
“The presence of adults in the locker room is critical to maintaining a safe and positive environment”
