Hoover gets fenced in

Gary Moskowitz

Hoover High School Co-principal Kevin Welsh hopes new fencing around

the school’s perimeter will help keep bad apples out and good ones

in.

The school is in the process of fixing its existing chain-link

fences, making some sections higher, and adding chain-link and

wrought-iron fences at open spots. The $56,280 project is scheduled

to be done by the fall. The district is paying for the project with

special improvement funds.

Despite some student remarks to Welsh about the fencing turning

the school into a “prison,” he and school staff think the project

will accomplish two positive goals -- to make it more difficult for

people who don’t belong on campus to get in, and to deter students

who might be tempted to leave during the school day from doing so.

“This is another way to keep kids accountable for the business of

attending school,” Welsh said. “We always want to do our best to

ensure that we have a safe campus, and [the fencing] helps us with

that a bit more. We want to enhance safety, improve attendance and

keep any bad people out.”

The school has not seen a significant rise or decline in student

truancies this year or in recent years, and the school has not had

recent problems with people trying to sneak onto campus, Welsh said.

The school implemented a new tardiness policy this year to deal with

slight increases in students being late to class.

Three murders on or near Hoover’s campus in the past six years are

a constant reminder to school administrators that student safety is

always a priority, Welsh said.

A Hoover student was stabbed to death in 1996 after school in

Brand Park and a 15-year-old boy was shot to death in 1999 during an

after-school fight at Hoover. The following year, Raul Aguirre was

stabbed to death across the street, in front of Toll Middle School.

The Hoover fence project is part of a districtwide safety project

designed to restrict or limit public access to elementary, middle and

high school properties. New fencing has been installed recently at

Rosemont and Roosevelt middle schools, and new fencing will be

installed this year at Clark Magnet High School, officials said.

Glenwood Road, Olmsted Drive, School Street and a driveway that

runs alongside the school’s auditorium form the four boundaries of

the school.

Barbed-wire fencing now lines portions of the School Street side

of campus along the school’s baseball field, and fencing as high as

16 feet now runs along the back of the school’s football field,

facing Olmsted.

Welsh, after talking with Hoover’s school resource officers and

campus maintenance employees, decided that the front of the school

along Glenwood and the west side of the campus next the auditorium

were areas that needed additional fencing.

A long stretch of classrooms that face Glenwood do not have any

fencing in front of them that would keep students from leaving or

visitors from walking onto campus.

Hoover students have mixed reactions to fences at the school.

“I think it’s a really good idea,” said Lilit Muradyan, a junior

at Hoover. “Kids will be more into their education because they know

there is no way out of the school.”

Azi Yapundzhyan thinks it’s relatively easy for students to sneak

in and out of the school as it is now.

“At first, it will feel like a prison,” said Azi, 14. “I think

it’s probably pretty easy to get in now, so it might be weird, but

it’s probably a good idea.”