Locking the doors during class hours, the new policy that has been implemented in CUSD and other school districts around the US. What exactly does this do, how does this help the safety of the students, does it really do anything other than inconvenience everyone? Locking the doors is supposed to help protect students due to many recent incidents and attacks across the country. Whether this is truly effective or not, nobody quite knows yet. 

Locking the doors everytime a class starts is not only inconvenient but also does not do much besides disturb classes already in progress. When someone arrives late they must knock and knock until someone answers the door, which not only can disturb the class but also disrupts the flow of the teacher/lesson. Not to mention every time someone in the class has to use the restroom this also disturbs the class. 

This is one of the major problems with locking doors, going to the restroom in the middle of the class and having to come back and knock on the door multiple times until someone has to come and open it. This just causes the whole class to be disturbed, this feeling is amplified during tests or other important events that take place in the classroom. This also prevents students from using the restroom sparing themselves from the embarrassment of having to knock on the classroom door when they get back. This results in students spending more time during the passing period to use the restroom. 

There is also the issue of the person who has to get the door. This person is always getting up out of their seat to get the door whenever someone needs to let in, impeding their own learning and distracting others from learning.. 

Some may argue that locking the doors helps to protect students from any possible school intruder situation, and yes, it may help protect the students inside of the classroom, but what about the students trapped outside? This doesn’t leave them with much safety from whatever may be happening on school grounds.

Because school safety has been a major concern in recent years the reasoning behind why the doors must now be locked is understandable, schools are not left with much choice in the matter. However, at the end of the day this new policy is just plain disturbing, not only to the classroom in general but to the learning process as well.