If you’ve been on campus recently, you may have noticed a new addition to the perimeter of our school: a 7-foot tall fence towering ominously over the grounds.
This fence is part of a larger school safety improvement plan that the LCUSD Governing Board Task Force for Safety and Security implemented in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting of early 2018.
Mr. Cartnal said, “The fencing project at LCHS follows the enhanced school fencing at all LCUSD elementary schools and seeks to limit the number of access points on campus and enhance way-finding, directing the public to enter at key locations.”
The main access points for the student body will be at the ⅞ Turnaround and near the office. Nevertheless, the fence will not encompass the quad.
Mr. Mark Evans, the Associate Superintendent of Business and Human Services, also added that “The total project cost is estimated to be $650,000 for this phase of fencing, [which] includes all construction and design costs. The contractor building the fence is Golden Sun.”
Construction will most likely finish in late 2020 or early 2021, environmental circumstances permitting.
Some students and teachers do not believe the fence is necessary. Pru Yontarak (12) stated that she “[didn’t] know how effective a fence would be” and that “our school is so big and oddly shaped…that they can’t…fence the whole place.”
Mr. Powers commented on the aesthetic of the fence, noting how it is “quite a nice looking fence.” However, he also expressed confusion, describing how “[he’s] been here for 23 years and we’ve never had a fence. I don’t see why we need a fence.”
Mr. Powers also noted that the fence “doesn’t close off the campus…Anybody could walk into the quad, gym, or cafeteria.”
Mr. Nunez found some value to the enclosure. The math teacher told the Spartan, “Based on my experience with closed campuses in the past, I can say that a fence certainly does provide …control….At schools I’ve worked at in the past, there [have] been times when, during a campus lockdown on account of a dangerous situation happening in the surrounding area (which can be quite scary), such control is helpful and can provide peace of mind.”
More information concerning the fence can be found on the LCUSD website under Measure LCF.
