This season’s frigid cold is illuminating student discontent with Edina High School’s door policy. Door security has been a well-addressed topic at EHS this year, from the announcements about Open Campus stickers to the various signs placed by Door 3 and Door 6 that direct students to the main office. Additionally, the administration partnered with the Student Senate to create a video discouraging the use of Door 6. However, many are still unclear about the exact policy at each door. Furthermore, students find the lack of security at some doors and the ineffective entrance policy tedious.

Despite the vast number of students that park in the upper lot and in the church parking lots, juniors and seniors that enter school during the school day are told to walk to the main office, rather than enter through Door 3. If students are late to school, they are told to walk to Door 5 in order to enter the building. “In my opinion, this is not effective. The only thing it does is force me to walk a longer distance. In terms of security, I don’t see a purpose for this,” senior Zach Mabie said.

Not only does this policy prove excessive to full-time students, it provides another obstacle for PSEO students. “I do part-time PSEO, so I come to school late most days. By the time I come to school, the Lower Lot is full, so I must park at EPAC and walk all the way to Door 5. Because the time between class at Normandale and Edina is so short, I often find myself late to my classes at Edina because I have to enter through Door 5,” senior Ellie Joing said.

Making students enter through Door 5 often causes students to arrive even later to their classes, and is a key issue that students would like to see improved. “I think it is important to have door security to protect the students and staff, but I also feel that there shouldn’t be just one door to enter and exit through during the day and that they should maybe have another door where students could scan in and out of when they leave,” senior Lukas Kovanda said.

Students frequently use Door 6 to leave EHS during the day because it is closer to their parking spot. “I, like most students, use Door 6 when going out for lunch or leaving during student prep, but I have never been told by a teacher that I can’t. Because teachers have badges that allow them to get in through any door when it is freezing outside in the winter, I think students should be allowed to come back in through whichever door is closest as long as they have their ID,” junior Hailey Felt said.

Although it is not a well-established policy, a sign is occasionally placed by Door 6, warning students to refrain from using it. Additionally, students have been told that they will have their Open Campus privileges revoked if they open the door for other students because there is no way to verify their identity.

Door security varies at each of the entrances due to the fact that each door is not staffed. Student IDs are frequently checked at Door 3, when students enter and exit, and frequently checked at Door 5 when students enter. However, IDs are not checked at Door 6. “I feel like [the security] is there for the right reasons, but it lacks consistency. I would like them to check [IDs] every single time, rather than not knowing if the administration will get mad or check,” senior Jacob Chow said. Additionally, the doors are unlocked from inside the building, therefore students are able to let others in through unmonitored doors, such as Door 4, without identification.

In light of the varying door policies and security levels, many have ideas about the most effective door policy, ranging from locking all the doors to using student key cards; however, most would like to see access to Door 6. “In order to make [the doors] more secure, an alarm system could be implemented to make sure that no one opens the [unmonitored] doors. The best method of security would be to leave Door 3 and 5 as they are, but in addition to have an alarm system implemented during school hours,” Mabie said.

Others suggest that there should be a scanning system implemented at each door so that students can scan their IDs before entering. This would eliminate the need for staff to monitor each door.