Introducing new campus monitor
Campus monitor Chris Rye sits at his table waiting to check for students without lanyards entering the building. Rye also makes sure students are not entering the building with hats on.
November 18, 2014
Chris Rye began his job as campus monitor Oct. 13. Over one 15-day stretch he wrote 104 name tags for people not wearing lanyards.
Rye sits at the commons doors during the day checking that students who are entering and exiting the school are who they are supposed to be. “This (the commons) is a big thoroughfare for the students, easy access out to the cars, easy access into the building,” Rye said.
If students do not have their lanyards, Rye looks them up in the system. “I’d ask for your last name, I’d look it up on the database that we have, that has a picture on it,” Rye said. “I’d match it up and know you are supposed to be here so I’d write you one of the name tags.”
Students have various thoughts about the campus monitor. Sophomore Claudia Wulf, like many other students, did not know Rye’s name. “I feel like we really do not need [a campus monitor],” Wulf said.
Some students try to avoid him. “My friend told me about this one kid that [Rye] asked if they had a lanyard on, and they said no and they just ran away,” junior Kimberly Zavoski said.
Loading ...Senior Jonathan Freymark has been to a school with a monitor before. “They were more effective than [him],” Freymark said. “The hall monitors were given a list of known delinquents and they roamed the halls looking specifically for those students.”
Teachers were able to add students to the list if they realized they were often not in class. “People who did skip were consistently caught, and put back into their respective classes,” Freymark said.
Rye cannot do much more than check for lanyards at this time, though he does have access to the cameras and can view what is going on in the building.
He works with a company called Per Mar security, which offers security services for schools, businesses, people and homes. This company runs the alarm system for the district. He was asked by his boss if he wanted the job. Rye said yes and the school went through the interviewing process with him. “They said they liked me so here I am,” Rye said.
Rye has also worked in the S.E. Polk and Ankeny school districts.
Zach Stitz #30 • Nov 19, 2014 at 12:51 pm
Why does those in charge of the School District feel the need to require students to have 1984 esqe identification lanyards and monitors. What ever happened to preparing kids through accountability rather than a neckbeard with access to a database and cameras.