As recent stories about school intruders have devastated the nation, many schools, including Westside, have amped up their security in attempt to prevent something similar happening in their community. Assistant principal Aaron Bredenkamp, says that there are multiple new safety devices around the school that may or may not be noticeable to students. Camera coverage was increased, the PA and visitor check-in system was updated, new door alarms were installed, and medical slides have been hung up around the building.

“As we go through life and events continue to unfortunately occur, part of my job is to make sure that you guys are as safe as possible” Bredenkamp said.

Schools get a yearly inspection to check for the safety in a potential intruder situation. Last year, Bredenkamp said it was strongly suggested that local door alarms are installed since there are so many doors inside Westside. This helps administration track who is being let in the building. Locks were also put on the main entrances of IMCs.

“In the IMCs, the doors you go out of used to not have locks” Bredenkamp said. “Now a teacher can quickly lock an IMC. So, if you guys are in the math IMC during an intruder [situation] and you go somewhere, there’s another barrier between you and the intruder.”

Bredenkamp said the door alarms on main entrances such as the athletic hall doors are for safety only.

“We don’t want the kid who’s going to Starbucks to make a negative impact to the student who’s down in the social studies IMC” Bredenkamp said.

Medical slides are another addition that students may see but not know what their use is. In the instance that someone gets injured and is unable to move downstairs to paramedics, the medical slide will unfold like a bagged chair and the victim can slide down to reach paramedics quickly.

“With [all] emergencies, we talk about time” Bredenkamp said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an active shooter or someone in diabetic shock. Everything is all about time. So, that’s where we try to identify things throughout the building. How can we make things faster?”

Visitor check-in has also been updated. Bredenkamp said if a visitor checks in at a proper entrance, they will either have a Westside badge or sticker on their chest.

“If you see someone in the building without one of those two things, tell an adult” Bredenkamp said.

Bredenkamp said administration is constantly revising what they can do for safety procedures in order to keep the student body as safe as possible.

“It just takes one misstep that can create a catastrophe” Bredenkamp said.

Check around the school to see if you notice any of the new safety precautions and make sure to ask an adult if you have any questions about them.