Recent national tragedies have again sparked conversation about safety procedures in schools.

Chapman has many policies implemented to protect students, faculty and staff. Assistant Principal Amy Driggers noted that safety procedures take two forms: school-wide procedures and classroom procedures.

These procedures include keeping classroom doors closed and locked and requiring approval before being buzzed into the school.

“You can also see there are signs posted all around to not open doors to anyone,” she said. “If you’re in the hallway and see someone knocking on the glass, you’re to direct them to the front. It’s really about personnel and procedures. If you have the procedures in place and the personnel who follow those procedures in place then you can make sure kids are safe.”

New School Resource Officer Kyle Rios has a desire to help the school become safer and will be looking to clearly communicate the procedures.

“I’m going to make sure everyone is safe,” Rios said. “I’m also going to make sure the students know the safety procedures and the teachers know safety procedures. I’m not saying that they don’t know them now, but I just think they need to be reintroduced and reinforced to make everyone safe at the end of the school year and the start of the school year.”

One thing school administration wants to stress is the importance of reporting what’s seen or heard.

“We’ve had times where people will go, ‘Hey, I see somebody down near the football stadium, someone sitting down on the curb down in the parking lot,’” Driggers said. “The immediate response, with Officer Rios, he’s been great.”

Although there are no immediate plans to make changes to the safety procedures, some may come in the new school years.

“Right now there are no new safety procedures, but come this new school year, we are going to implement some training,” Rios said. “Right now it hasn’t been developed yet into our plan, but next year you’ll see some new features.”