Nothing is more noticeable at Cardozo High School than the improvement of safety for staff and students this school year. At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, many issues needed to be resolved, such as the students who vandalized school property and the many disruptions of classes due to fire alarms and lockdowns. But, Cardozo has shown many promises of a better and safer environment in the 2023-2024 school year so far.
Throughout last year, problems began when students started pulling fire alarms for unnecessary reasons, interrupting many classes and slowing down lessons. Furthermore, these false fire drills also alert the fire department which wasted their time, as well, as they could have been responding to a real fire if need be.
To add on, each false alarm can lead to a high fee to the school and if the person responsible for the false pull got caught, they would be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. Sadly that’s not all, as there were a handful of times when unwanted visitors from other high schools entered the school. This sparked chaos and led to a real lockdown being needed. Fortunately, nobody was harmed and the anonymous person was found and escorted out.
Despite these issues in the 2022-2023 school year, when the new school year of 2023-2024 rolled around, Cardozo showed big changes in their safety protocols.
First, Cardozo decided that every student must wear their school ID at all times. This has helped both staff and students identify one another. Students are required to also show their ID when entering the building to prevent any anonymous people from coming in.
This year, all of the fire drills have been organized by the school’s BRT (building response team), and not a student “pull.” The change in safety and security is due to the addition of new deans and also new security cameras, Assistant Principal Ms. Millen shared at a Journalism press conference. The addition of deans has helped keep everyone safe this year, including keeping the hallways clear.
It’s safe to say that Cardozo has made great improvements in the safety protocols between this year and last year. As Melanie Gonzales, a Cardozo junior, stated, “I remember last year there wasn’t a lot of safety as there was this year.”
“This year there’s a lot more security, there’s a lot more security agents around the halls and I really like that they have more security because it’s really needed,” she shared.
Adding on, Cardozo junior Falisha Majid shared, “There’s definitely a difference, I would say, that last year we weren’t as like secure. But this year, we are a lot more secure through more security checks and more frequent scanning.”
Overall, Cardozo’s new safety system shows a new environment for both students and staff. We hope this can prevent any more instance incidents and make all Cardozo students feel more comfortable and secure.