THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510060188
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MEG WARDELL, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
During the summer I had heard some commotion about the new security measures that Western Branch High School was taking for the 1995-96 school year, but I wasn't sure whether to believe it. Was it a rumor started by faculty in order to shape up students?
But, sure enough, when the first school newsletter arrived in my mailbox it almost bragged about the new state-of-the-art security cameras inside and outside of the school. The cameras run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and at the tap of a small button are able to pick out a face in the crowd, enlarge it and print it out.
Parents say that they love the idea of a safer school environment and knowing that their children are being watched throughout the day. But students spoke harshly about the cameras that some think of as an invasion of their privacy.
``I don't think all the cameras and extra security guards are necessary,'' said Travis Saunders, 15, a Western Branch sophomore. ``Western Branch is safer than a lot of the schools that don't have as much security.''
Edward C. Welsh, assistant principal and head of security, has been with Chesapeake Schools for 33 years. When he first arrived in 1963, ``Nobody worried about security problems, nothing at all like nowadays,'' he said.
Welsh said that no particular incident led to the added security. In addition to the cameras, he said, Western Branch now has more adult security monitors - a total of three - plus 16 volunteer student security guards, mostly football players.
These students are part of a new law enforcement club at Western Branch. Members spend a class period mainly patrolling the parking lots in pairs and directing traffic before school. They report suspicious activity to school authorities. Next year Welsh plans to offer a law enforcement class that students can take for credit.
``All the added security is only a preventive measure, for the future,'' Welsh said. If unlimited funds were available, ``we would add on a new security guard, and try to make the student parking facilities more secure.''
The students at Western Branch seem to support security guards and oppose security cameras.
Jenni Grillo, 17, a senior at Western Branch, said: ``I can see where some security is needed, but I think they are going a little bit overboard.''
But Brittany Cunningham, 16, a junior, has a different view. ``The students who have nothing to hide have nothing to worry about with the cameras,'' she said.
While Western Branch students might think they have to deal with high-tech security overload, students at Norfolk Academy are protected by a system based largely on a student honor code. And they too have mixed opinions about the measures.
Norfolk Academy's honor code is a strict set of rules that each student must sign. If a student breaks the honor code, he or she is almost assured punishment. Violators face a jury of peers, called the Student Honor Council, which issues a recommendation of punishment to the faculty. About 90 percent of the time that recommendation is followed, according to Thomas P. Hudgins, director of Norfolk Academy's upper school.
Putting books in open-faced lockers with no doors or locks and expecting them to be there at the end of the day is commonplace at Norfolk Academy. Hudgins admits that some stealing takes place, but they don't tolerate it.
Hudgins has been at Norfolk Academy for 20 years. When he first came to the school there wasn't much in the way of security. The security that Norfolk Academy has now is not a result of problems within the school, but because Norfolk Academy now has opened more of the campus to members of the community. Norfolk Academy uses guards from a private, professional security agency and there is is at least one security guard on campus most of the time.
Sharif El-Mahdi, 16, a junior at Norfolk Academy said, ``The security system at N.A. is well thought out and makes me feel safe and secure on campus.''
Students said that the honor-based system at Norfolk Academy makes them think twice before they do anything wrong, because everyone will find out if they do. Plus, they don't want to lose the trust of their teachers and peers.
But one Norfolk Academy student believes that the system keeps students too far from the real world.
``I feel safe, but isolated,'' said Andrew Cherry, 16, a junior. ``N.A. is not the real world, and I feel that we're unprepared for interacting in the real world, where this system is the exception, not the rule.'' MEMO: Meg Wardell is a junior at Western Branch High School.
by CNB