Elk Grove High School security is preparing to move into dedicated spaces in the front and back of the school as construction finishes.

The change comes as part of an initiative to improve security districtwide, having been covered by money from District 214’s budget surplus last year.

The new security “offices” serve as a gateway for visitors into the school, with security even being able to call police at the flip of a switch, not unlike a fire alarm.

Despite the improvements, the changes to visitor procedures are minor.

“It doesn’t change how it happens, it changes where it happens,” Associate Principal of Operations Kyle Burritt said. “{Visitors will] walk into the vestibules, then be buzzed in electronically.”

Burritt denied rumors of visitors being disallowed.

“We will continue to invite and welcome parents and guests at all times,” Burritt said.

The vestibules are not the only changes. “All the windows on the first floor now have a security film installed on them,” Burritt said. “You won’t see it, but there’s an improvement there.”

The film makes the first floor windows “shatterproof.”

“The best way to describe it is how windshields are in cars,” Burritt explained. “They crack, but they stay in one piece.”

While the change helps prevent intruders, it serves numerous other purposes.

“If there is ever a tornado, and you have large projectiles, it slows that down from possibly coming into the building,” Burritt said.

While changes like the windows are going unnoticed, students such as senior Philip Sijimon are skeptical as to the necessity of the new security areas.

“It seems like these changes are arbitrary,” Sijimon said. “I wouldn’t really change anything.”

Burritt, in an e-mail, said that the improvements are not a big deal.

“The goal is to not create systems, procedures, etc. that are intrusive to our daily lives for no reason,” Burritt said. “They are well thought out plans to keep everyone safe.”

While security guard Rod Dabe knows the improved technology will make it “harder for anybody undesirable to get in,” he believes an element of humanity will be lost as a result.

“I’ll lose contact with the students,” Dabe said. “I won’t be able to see them as much.”

Although most of the construction is finished, the administration is waiting for certain supplies before the vestibules become fully operational.

“By November 1, we should have everything up and running,” Burritt said.

“I don’t know if it’s entirely necessary, but it’s here,” Dabe said. “You’ve just gotta go with it.”