The Manitou Springs High School commons doors will now officially be locked from first block until the end of fourth block, with the exception of passing periods.

The high school administration made the decision days after the deadly elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26 people, 20 of them children.

Principal Glenn Hard gave his reasons for locking the doors, which have been always been open or unlocked during the school day.

“Obviously, it’s in response, in part, to the shooting in Connecticut,” said Hard. “What it did was to trigger us to start thinking about security and how easy it is for people we don’t necessarily know… to access the building.”

As it stood before the door were locked, virtually anyone could come and go as they pleased through the commons doors, without having to sign in.

“It’s simply a measure to try and prevent people from accessing heavily populated areas without signing in and being accounted for,” said Hard.

Hard also is open to the idea of further security measures for the high school.

“We’re looking at bringing in a consultant and having them steer us through what different options might be to increase security,” said Hard. “We’ll have the consultant visit early next semester, and then just work from their recommendations. We don’t want to kneejerk and become crazy about security, but we also want to make sure that there’s a safe environment and that it’s not easily accessible.”

The commons doors see by far the most traffic in the school, and the commons are the most populated area of the school, depending on the time.

“I would guess that 90% of our traffic comes through the commons, and truthfully, it’s the farthest from where things are directly supervised well,” said Hard.

By Keegan Bockhorst