High schools face accreditation every five years, and it is a stressful time for all involved. The committee that does the task comes away with volumes of information and spends a good deal of time visiting the school while interviewing students, staff, faculty, administration, and even some patrons.
In the last month Carbon High completed their twice a decade trial and passed with excellent results based on what administrators learned from the committee before they left.
“As a brand new administration at Carbon this year we were coming at this with the attitude that we don’t know what we don’t know,” said Carbon High Principal Chris Winfree. “So we were very open to comments and suggestions. If there were going to be things that this team could help us improve upon, that we don’t even know about, we were happy and willing to take that feedback.”
Winfree pointed out that there were some really good positive things said by the committee to them at the end of the visit. The official report will be returned to the district in about 30 days.
Winfree then moved on to talk about school safety and security.
He also addressed the security measures that are being taken to make the school safer. He said that the fencing around the back of the school is now in and the automatic gates to control what cars go into the back of the school will soon be up and running.
“Until construction on the new addition is done, we have to leave doors to the back of the school open because of the portable classrooms and the students’ need to get in and out of the main building,” he stated. “But the fencing and the gate will help protect that area. We are going to have teachers start parking in the back of the school which will free up more space in the front parking lot.”
All the front doors to the school will be on systems that lock them during class periods and after school has started. The only door that will be open will be to the main hall and a new attendance and monitoring office will be set up just inside those doors. Anyone coming into the school will be checked in and given a pass. They will also have their ID or driver’s license scanned so that security knows who is in the building at all times.
“The way it is now, with the choir rooms and the drama room at that end of the hall, anyone entering the building passes up to 200 students in rooms before they ever get to the main office,” said Winfree. “This new system will help us a great deal with security and knowing who is coming and going.”