New changes have been made throughout the school year at West Chicago, and February is no different. As of last week, door 24/25, previously known as door H, will no longer be used as a drop-off location for items such as lunches, missing homework, and other materials. Door 1A, previously known as door B, will now serve as the main entrance and the only location for item drop-offs.
The announcement was posted in the daily student announcements sent through Gmail and regularly shown during Den.
“ATTENTION WILDCATS!!
Door 24/25 (H) is NO longer a main office for visitors. Please do not ask your parents to drop off items or drinks there. They will NOT be accepted! All visitors must go around to the only Main Entrance at door #1A.
Thank You!”
For clarity, students can still enter and exit through door 24/25. However, the only location where item drop-offs or sign-offs can be made is at door 1A.
The decision was made primarily for school safety, according to Dave Pater, Executive Director of Operations and Safety.
“From a safety and security standpoint, having all visitors through the access out there and then coming in through a locked vestibule to state their business and then see another locked area within the office, you can limit access from three different points,” Pater said. “Entrance 24 did not offer that.”
According to Pater, there are three layers of containment through door 1A if a situation were ever to require it. The first level of security is the building itself being locked, with visitors required to ring in through the blue stand outside. The second level is the vestibule between the outside entrance and the office, where security staff can monitor visitors clearly.
The third and final level is the main office, where the door remains locked and where both the School Resource Officers’ office and Pater’s office are located.
Schools surrounding West Chicago, such as Glenbard South and Wheaton-Warrenville South, typically operate with only one main entrance, compared to WEGO’s previous two.
“Safety. Always. I know that you guys might not know that daily, but that is consistently what I am trying to do,” Pater said.
Although the decision was made out of safety concerns, some students and families have found it inconvenient.
“Yeah, my mom was mad that I had to go all the way to door B,” junior Brianna Duran said.
Some parents still attempt to drop off items at doors 24 and 25 but are directed to door 1A, even if they remain persistent.
“There’s no doorbell anymore, but some parents insist and they knock … it would be about three to five a day. If I said ‘yes’ to one, I would have to say ‘yes’ to all,” Administrative Assistant of Student Services Fanny Lopez said.
