A recent policy has been put into action at Ventura High School. Before this policy was put in place, the locker areas around campus were always a place where students would hang out during break and lunch. Now, there are members of VHS administration that monitor the halls and locker areas during those times. With this new monitoring system, students are not allowed in the locker areas during lunch and breaks.

What was the purpose for this change?

Principal Carlos Cohen shared the purpose for this new policy: “School safety and having a positive culture and climate here on campus is really important to us so one of the things we always want to maintain is areas that we can very quickly and easily check on.”

Cohen explained that the hallways by the lockers have gotten very “congested.”

Cohen also mentioned another reason for keeping students out of the lockers. “Prior to us making the decision to clear out the hallway, we had heard that possibly, students were vaping and stuff. We had never had any evidence of that ourselves, we hadn’t seen anything on cameras or seen anything ourselves.”

When asked if he thinks VHS students have been responding well to this change, Cohen said, “I believe that the students [are]… hardworking, they’re good kids and they see administration or campus supervisors coming over and if they are getting their books they get their stuff and go.”

Overall, Cohen believed this new change has been positive but also uncomfortable for some. “I also know that people felt comfortable in there so some [students] miss [their] hallway space,” said Cohen.