Recent revisions made to the Piedmont High School Visitor’s Policy to insure safety have affected students and staff members.

Fingerprinting and tuberculosis assessments are required for all continuous visitors of PHS and will now generally be required for all visitors that will interact with students not under the supervision of staff to ensure a safe environment at school.

“There are policies, and then there are policies within policies, and as the principal of Piedmont High School, Mr. Daniels also can say, even if a visitor comes once he can say, ‘I want them fingerprinted.’” said Vice Principal Eric Mapes. “So he has that right to say that because in the end, he is the head of the school. And if that is what Mr. Daniels is wanting, I know that’s what he wants and that’s what we have to abide by.”

Administration decides whether or not a visitor needs to be fingerprinted and TB assessed depending on how much time they will be with the students, and if there will be an employee present.

“The main thing is safety, you know, student safety, staff safety,” Mapes said.

The policy has affected staff members, who have already been TB assessed and fingerprinted, and are now taking  more obligations to fulfill the new requirements of the Visitor’s Policy.

Voice Cooperative Co-President senior Grace Sanford supports the new policy and its protection of student safety if it does not prevent a safe speaker from visiting, which has not been an issue at this point for VOCO, a club that brings speakers for students’ leisure.  

“It’s just a matter of getting in touch with the administration way in advance and making sure that everything is okay with them,” Sanford said. “Just not waiting till the last minute to be like, can this random person come to our school?”

The new policy makes it more difficult for ASB to plan events because with the new process, it takes more time. ASB cannot make any last-minute decisions or changes because fingerprinting takes about a month.

“It’s kind of a pain when we rent cotton candy machines or the tent we rent for dances a lot of times, those people will have to be fingerprinted” said ASB President senior Maryse Suppiger.

So far all visitors have agreed to be fingerprinted and TB assessed when requested; there have been no problems with visitors.

“It’s been a change, and with change there have been some questions just about how the process works, but for the most part it’s been seamless in terms of direct services for students” Daniels said.