When Ted Cruz responded to the massacre at Robb Elementary School by saying schools need to be limited to a single entrance, I thought of my own elementary school. Four entry doors used by students, plus another to the gymnasium that was only used by staff and when the school was used as a polling place.
Locking four of those entrances doesn't seem too unreasonable, and has probably been done ever since Columbine 23 years ago.
Then I thought of my high school.
Washington Park High School is a sprawling complex, from the John Burns Park Theater to the fieldhouse (the dark building at the southeast end). Every one of the sidewalks in this satellite photo, including the one hidden by the "pin" over the theater building, leads to a door. There are at least two doors into the building from the parking lot on the west side of the building and another in that nearly enclosed area north of the fieldhouse. (That used to be a gated area where we could park bicycles and was a popular area for students who smoked. If there's still a gate, I can't see it in this photo.)
There are also doors to those enclosed courtyards, and there could well be other exterior doors I never needed, say, perhaps by the racetrack.
Point is, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that official policy is for only one of those doors to remain open during the school day.
I'd also be immensely surprised if everybody walked around the building to get to it every time they stepped out to their car, had outdoor gym class, or sneaked out for a smoke.
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