In order to keep students safer, new security measures are being taken at South. Students now must be out of the school by 3:30, and gates have started to be put up in the parking lots during Panther Plus.

Many students gather in the atrium after school for long periods of times, and now, they must be out of the building by 3:30. “If [the students] are in school, we’re responsible for them,” Assistant Principal Jay True said.

The school is liable for anything that occurs inside the building, and so if something happens after school hours, South could risk getting in trouble. Although “[the school staff] wants school to be somewhere they want to be,” True said, students staying after school is too much of a risk.

In addition to this, gates are being put up in the parking lots during Panther Plus. This measure has been taken because after reviewing the school’s security cameras, True and the security guards saw what a “mass exodus” was occurring during Panther Plus. In order to avoid the gates, students who come late to school or intern during the mornings can go in the Henderson Street entrance, park in the Frank Southern Lot, or if they’re NHS members, park in the front lot.