When you think of school, you think of some pretty negative things in all actuality. But one of the things you probably remember from that high school, if you’ve been here awhile, is how open Hughson High School was in the front, how easily students could go out there and of course the all-iconic billboard. But over the summer, we  had a renovation of the campus; the brand new fences barring the front and other places. Today, I’ll talk about the most new thing on this campus, the fences.

Fences on school campuses are definitely not a new subject. After all, it’s basically a part of any school. However, HHS has a unique history with its fences. This may be a surprise to the Freshmen of the campus, but there was initially no fence on the front of HHS! Or at least, the fence was further out. Near the office, there used to be a Husky billboard and a much smaller parking lot. Accessing the office used to be the door that is now it’s exit, and the gates were mostly used to keep out people from using Hughson High School Staff Parking as a camping spot. However, the gates have recently receded to essentially sniff the neck of the school and are face-to-face with the front of the campus. 

Now, there are good reasons to barricade your campus. It helps keep the school safer from walk-ins, which as far as I’m aware, has never been an issue. It also can ensure students don’t walk off campus, which I assume is to prevent mid-class walkouts and hordes of zombies or perhaps a protest one day from waltzing in. It also makes a funnel for the office which can help minimize the line and chance of somebody going out through there. However, what I find more discussion worthy is all the strange issues these fences cause.

First of all, I find it a very odd choice that a school like Hughson High has to put up actual barricades to prevent students from leaving without permission. While sure, that does keep out creepy and undesirable people from the campus, it also makes the originally super-open campus of the school seem that much closer to a prison type environment, which isn’t helped by the new movement of the office. There’s now 2 front doors and a single backdoor which originally was the entrance. To enter the office, you would have to approach it from a specific side and go through the door near the fence, in sight of the 2nd door for Parents. It’s more of an inconvenience and it’s out of the way, as there isn’t even an easy access hallway entrance anymore, which could be a plus due to how cramped those become due to chatty clumps of people. But my biggest thought, and it’s a baffling one to me, is why the front gate has push door gates with alarms. While I bet it’s probably some fire safety precaution, all it really reminds me of is some kind of video game key-card door that just trips some very minor inconvenience of an alarm if opened. Why have a gate that you can open if you need a key to “open” the door quietly anyways? Why not just have it like the back gates and have locks that only the teachers have access to, because a push door gate alarm just seems kind of counterproductive when it comes to preventing walkouts and AWOL’s.

Last little tidbit, just the odd change from denying parking to just denying the ability to enter or exit. Really just offsets the original use of the fences, even if it’s a staff-only parking side. Besides that, the gates in general make the campus feel even more like a jail than before.