As students walk around the Empire, something new has caught their attention; black and silver metal gates installed along sidewalks, rock walls and concrete.
With a student and faculty population of 2,531 at the Temple, security and a safe learning environment for all is the top priority. On May 24, 2022, the tragic school shooting that occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde caused Texans to worry about how safe schools were.
Governor Greg Abbott issued a $15,000 grant per school in El Paso to fund safety measures to prevent shootings like Uvalde and other security threats. El Dorado used the funds to purchase fences installed around the school’s ungated areas to block threats. Campus Security Guard Jose Perez believes the fences could be seen as a negative change by students.
“The gates are in place because of what happened at Uvalde. It’s actually a Texas state requirement now; all schools should be fenced in. I’m sure the kids are going to hate it due to the fact they can’t get out when they want to. The whole point is to keep everyone safe and that’s going to go over kids’ heads,” Perez said. “It could raise a concern with drills because somebody has to open the gates and we only have one guard outside. I’m sure there’s spots where kids are going to jump over because there’s easy access in a sense.”
Assistant Principal Nicole Matsuda believes the fences benefit students and faculty by adding that extra wall of defense to keep everyone safe in the learning environment.
“The fact that the money was given to us by a grant and didn’t cost the campus any money to have an extra layer of security for you guys is always going to be a beneficial thing, in my opinion,” Matsuda said.
From firsthand experience, Matsuda wished the fences were added on earlier to protect students when they go off campus for lunch or dismissal.
“There was one time where a mentally-ill man was around our campus and I was on crossing duty for kids to cross the street at lunch. Obviously, I had to defend my students but I wouldn’t be able to stand up to him, so having these fences is a really good addition to prevent things like that from happening again,” Matsuda said.
According to senior Student Council President Melanie Roman-Naciff, the fences make parents and visitors think negatively about the campus.
“I do honestly think it makes us look bad. In my first period, we were talking about the gates and it really did bring a lot more morale down. If you compare these to other high schools here in SISD, I do notice a lot of them have more of a better stance or better look to them,” Roman-Naciff said. “It’s just a matter of being able to make it better for the students to be able to walk out of it, considering the short openings and making sure it looks good for our school. Maybe also taking it into consideration to make them look nicer.”
The staff is working on signs to make these fences not be seen as ‘unappealing’ from the student point of view. Matsuda states that students are afraid of change to the campus and ignore the full picture on why they were added in the first place.
“I will admit when I first heard about perimeter fencing, one of my concerns was that it would be too sterile or almost prison-like and obviously that’s sending a bad message, but I think that they did a good job design wise. It’s still an inviting campus that is secure,” Matsuda said. “I know that we’ve started working on signs and things like that to add to the fencing to help make it a little more homey, a little more appealing, a little more aesthetically pleasing, so it’s not cold, sterile iron pieces.”
According to senior Student Council Vice President Lauren Riperto, the fences leave a bad impression of El Dorado. Riperto believes there are other approaches to keep students safe without fences.
“My honest opinion of the gates added around the school is that they’re a waste of resources and funding, in no way are they necessary to our school. If anything, I think they would cause more problems,” Riperto said. “As a leader in our school, safety is one of my top priorities for my fellow peers, but there are so many flaws with the gates. It’s hard to see them as something beneficial to student life. We should be able to trust our students and they should be able to trust us to keep them safe in return. I can see both sides of the coin, but I think that there are just so many different ways to keep our students safe other than these gates.”
