In the last six months, Aspen High School has been improving campus safety by adopting a new security system known as Raptor.

Raptor is a new computer program that the school installed six months ago. The purpose of it is to enhance school safety. Raptor catalogs visitors in the school. Guests must insert their ID into the Raptor machine to receive a printed photo badge. This badge must be worn around the school until they leave the property. Teachers are also required to wear ID badges. This means that no adults are permitted in the school unless seen with a visible badge

Paul Hufnagle, the resource officer at AHS and local police officer, has been a great help in developing the AHS school security. He works at all three schools, AHS, Aspen Middle School, and Aspen Elementary School.

“It’s so that people can’t just wander into the school off the streets. It’s for easier identification,” Hufnagle said.  “If somebody seems weird and you can’t put your finger on who they are, you can come up to me and report it.”

In addition to Raptor, the school has also put new locks on the doors. Sarah Strassburger, the AHS Vice Principal, has been working with the school on heightening the security.

“We have changed the way the school is locked, so we now have different easier cards to get in and out of the buildings and classrooms. Everything is on a hard key, and that is just safer because some of those swipe keys batteries die and teachers can’t get in,” said Strassburger.

Aspen High has an open campus. Students are allowed to leave and return to the building with no restrictions. On a closed campus, the students are not permitted to leave the building and have resource officers monitoring the entry and exit at all times.

Aspen offers many unique learning opportunities outside of the school that are often incorporated into the curriculum.

“We want students to take advantage of the beautiful surroundings, to have teachers able to take kids outside and go for a hike, read, paint, or whatever it might be. That said, we have to take measures and change with the times,” Strassburger said.

The school’s goal for this upcoming year is to create a conversation between the students and staff about school safety.

“If you look at what we have to deal with today, it’s acts of violence in schools, and so that’s what we have to train for. We have to train so that if something ever does happen you guys are prepared” Hufnagle said.