Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, the school board has decided to apply strict new rules all students must obey. One of the recently developed regulation is the “red line” sectioning off portions of the school during before school, break, and lunch. The red line basically acts like a border restricting students from going to the ROTC building, the 800’s buildings, and the entirety of the 200’s and 300’s area. These areas have been designated as off-limits to all students for no apparent reason outside of keeping more kids in a tighter space on campus.

With the introduction of the “red line” policy, the school board has also seemingly increased the presence of security guards on campus. A team of newly hired security personnel has been stationed throughout the school grounds to enforce the strict regulations and ensure that students comply with the red line boundaries. While the intention behind this increased security is to maintain a safe and controlled environment, many students feel that the security guards are taking their duties to an extreme level. Although most of the returning security guards have remained calm and nice to talk to, some of the new security guards seem to go ballistic if you are walking with your friends to class too slow. I had spoken to a fellow senior regarding how different the security guards have been since this school year began, and they explained that “the security guards this year are way more strict when in comparison to last year, while there are still the chill ones from last year, the new security guards try to enforce the red line policy too much when it’s really not that big of a deal.”

There are also rumors that even more restrictive policies may be introduced later this year. One of the potential new rules are the requirement that all students must use clear backpacks, allowing staff to see what is inside students’ bags incase anybody attempts to sneak contraband items onto campus. Additionally, other schools in California, particularly in Los Angeles, have begun requiring students to place their phones in Yondr pouches, small pouches designed to seal phones shut for the entire school day. There is speculation that the stricter cell phone policies may be implemented in our district, and students might be required to either lock their phones in Yondr pouches for the day or leave them at home entirely.

With all of the new rules this year, my friends and I are glad that this is our last year, and we’re ready to move on from this environment and not have to deal with these ridiculous policies anymore. Hopefully that these new guidelines become more lenient when our siblings and other new students enroll in Elsinore High School.