On April 5, four teenage girls from outside the school district came onto Laguna Beach High School’s campus unauthorized. The four girls did not follow the correct procedures that visitors must do to be allowed to enter campus correctly. There wasn’t only this issue with the situation; the students then decided it would be best to record their experience coming onto campus for TikTok. Eventually, the students were reported to admin since they were unrecognizable from the rest of the student body. The administration took immediate action, and the girls received significant repercussions for their behavior from their school.

“I think we have to approach these situations with a certain mindset with a different grade of discipline for each,” said SRO Officer Fred Yielding. 

Administration reiterates to students that we must remind ourselves that we never truly know what harm an unknown person coming onto campus can do. Even though they don’t appear to look like they can cause harm, the admin must take the appropriate precautions just in case something were to have happened. The way the administration clarified the situation made the situation a lot less scary to many. Their approach brought people security and comfort, while others felt it needed more accommodations. 

“The exits should have more monitoring; they should have to show their identification if they aren’t recognizable,” said an anonymous 9th-grade student.

In theory, asking all students to show their student ID before entering and exiting school grounds sounds like a good idea, but it is very time-consuming for both parties. If the trespassers were a threat to campus, how they handled it would not have been enough. The precautions that have been taken include adding more campus supervisors around most main entrances and exits on school grounds. They do not remain in their positions at all times since it is impossible for them to constantly be waiting for an intruder because that isn’t going to happen every day. The previously mentioned idea goes into an even bigger issue of first- and second-year students leaving school without permission during breaks. Of course, students want the freedom to do whatever they please, but if you word it to them in a different light, it makes it ten times easier to contain them. 

“I appreciate that they didn’t let it slide,” said an anonymous 11th-grade student. “There definitely would have been other kids that would have snuck onto campus and eventually would have become a trend.” 

As students, we are all responsible for keeping ourselves and others safe, regardless of the scenario we are put into. It could be at school, at home, hanging out with friends, etc. 

“If you see something, say something,” said LBHS principal Dr. Allemann.