by Zach Geller ‘25

In early March, Sherwood introduced a new policy that has become the topic of controversy and frustration among students who drive or carpool to school. Security guards began locking the doors at 7:46 AM sharp and stationing themselves outside the doors to ensure no one lets any late students in. These students are now told instead to walk around to the main office doors to enter the building. This iron-fisted change punishes students even slightly late, forbidding entry even to students who arrive exactly at the moment when they lock the doors. Students may arrive only a minute late but the walk around the school pushes their tardiness even later.

The responses to the policy appears to be very split between students and staff: students viewing it as an unnecessary inconvenience that ends up making them miss more of 1st period, while some staff members argue that it’s beneficial for school security.

The solution for students may seem as easy as waking up earlier, but there are a number of reasons why students sometimes do not make it to school before 7:40. Senior Justin Lakso is a shining example of this as a student that’s been locked out a few days a week since the policy began. Twice a week Lakso gets up for swim practice at 4:45, and between swimming, getting ready for school, and the traffic driving over he’s been caught by the doors just minutes after they’re locked. After having to walk from the back doors to the main office, he’s late a full 10 minutes to first period. Lakso is left wondering, “If the issue is that students aren’t getting to class on time, then why create a system which makes them get to class even later?”

Even if the policy is about improving security about who is entering Sherwood, it falls short as there is still no real way for them to tell whether someone at the front is actually a student or not. With the influx of students coming through the main office doors, school staff just have students sign in, take a pass, and walk out of there. There is no true verification if someone is a student or not.

It’s clear that this policy prioritizes inconveniencing students over the actual desired outcome of getting students into class. The time it takes to thrust a late-pass into the hands of a student at the main office forces them to miss even more class than they would have. Overall, the new policy leaves many students believing that it is intended to punish students rather than help them get to class on time or maintain a safe school.