In an email to the student body last Friday, Susan Esty, Dean of Students and Residential Life, announced significant enhancements to campus safety that are underway. The changes include the continued installation of audio devices in classrooms, the implementation of exterior cameras on buildings, and the establishment of gates along pedestrian-heavy roads. These measures are intended to mitigate both recent safety concerns and cumulative ones that have arisen over the years.
Campus safety measures have been continuously added, altered, and retracted over the years to accommodate the needs of the Academy. Mark Leonard, Director of Campus Safety, elaborated on previously implemented security measures and explained the planning for additional regulations.
“The good thing that came out of [COVID-19] was we were able to make sure the buildings remained locked during the day. No one could just walk into an academic building and not have a badge… If we put the card access system to lock down, nobody’s card will work, so we can lock the exterior of the buildings down immediately. A step further building on that was [putting] locks on every classroom… If you study active shooter incidents in schools across the country, an active shooter has never really breached a locked classroom,” said Leonard.
Leonard continued, “As new buildings come along, we’re enhancing the video camera coverage outside and inside those buildings from a safety and security standpoint. We’ve enhanced the number of cameras on the exterior and in certain interior spaces as well, balancing privacy and things like that. Some of the camera coverage in buildings might be a little lacking. Recognizing that, we’re currently in the process of adding more cameras to mostly exterior spaces, like along Chapel Ave, [or] other areas on campus where we feel camera coverage would be important.”
The institution of the cell phone policy this academic year has underscored the need to improve communication in emergency situations. Esty elaborated on the reasoning behind establishing landline phones in house counselor apartments and dorm common rooms.
“We had this sense of security, which maybe is a little false sense of security, that as long as I have my phone I’m safe, when in fact, when we had the gas explosions years ago, the phone lines were so busy that we couldn’t make calls out. In a true crisis, sometimes the usual channels of communication don’t work too because of the chaos and all the people trying to use the network at once. So, it’s important to always be thinking about what are the things we could improve upon,” said Esty.
Recognizing Andover’s open campus, Ellah Kotlarsky ’27 felt that the ongoing measures provide an extra level of security necessary for handling emergencies. She stressed the importance of adapting safety measures from traditional schools in ways that work best for Andover.
“Since Andover’s campus is so large and sprawling, we forget that it’s a high school sometimes. Most high schools where I’m from are a lot more tight and secure than this. Unfortunately, there is always the danger of an emergency situation in this place, so I appreciate that they’re taking these measures,” said Kotlarsky. “There’s always the worry about safety. I completely understand why they would make an effort to have these measures, especially with everything that’s going on related to violence on school campuses. There’s always a risk.”
One of the primary changes to campus will be the installation of gates along campus roads which will restrict access for non-Academy members during certain times of the day. These locations include Chapel Avenue, Fieldhouse Road, Great Quad Road, and Old Campus Road. Leonard elaborated on the device students and faculty can register their vehicles with to gain entry to these gates.
“It’s a simple device in their vehicle that could open the gate. As the vehicle approaches, it would recognize that this vehicle is allowed to pass through, and the gate would raise automatically.
Say a faculty member is returning back to campus at 8 p.m., 9 p.m. at night. They would be able to have the gate open automatically by having that very inexpensive device that would be in their car, like the transponders that people have on their windshields. Not something that big, just something very small that would be able to communicate remotely or as a vehicle approaches to let it know this vehicle is allowed through here to make it as least impactful and least invasive as possible,” said Leonard.
Maya Tomlinson ’28 considered this implementation an essential measure to improve campus security. Weighing its potential advantages and disadvantages, she discussed how the gates would benefit safety at the cost of convenience.
“At my old school, we had a gating system. It prevented people from getting in or out who were undesirable, but it didn’t really impact student life… I was a little shocked when I got here that there weren’t gates because that means anyone can drive in and be fine. That said, [they] would prevent rental cars like airport pickups, and parents visiting, especially if they don’t have a car permission sticker. And delivery drivers, how are they going to get in? How am I going to get my DoorDash? That doesn’t make sense. But generally, it’s a good idea,” said Tomlinson.
Guetty Moita ’26 conveyed a contrasting opinion of the gate installation, citing a concern that Andover may begin to appear more closed-off to external communities with this addition.
“I have conflicting notions about how Andover in some ways can become a bubble if you have certain things like completely locking the campus off to other people or having gates and otherwise. While there are significant benefits in regards to safety, if that were to be the case, there should be greater occurrences of community engagement such that Andover isn’t just its own bubble walled off from the greater community,” said Moita.
Moita continued, “It would be good if, alongside having gates that seclude campus, there were stronger forms of community engagement so the bond between the community and the school isn’t completely severed. Maintaining safety for students and faculty is very important, but it’s about seeing how to do that in a way that’s tasteful.”
Henry He ’26 reflected on some of the measures currently in place to enforce campus safety. In particular, he expressed the need for training procedures to equip students with the knowledge to handle certain types of emergencies.
“In terms of emergency drills, we have a fire drill early on, but at my old school, we would always have lockdown drills and fire drills at the start of the year, and we don’t have that here, so I feel like we’re not educated in terms of what to do during a lockdown drill versus an active shooter drill or anything like that,” said He. “If there were more safety concerns, drills and education would never hurt.”
