Greene County High School students embarked on a new era this week.

Students are not only going to school during a pandemic, but also entering a new multi-million dollar facility with a new high school located west of American Athletic Incorporated and south Highway 30 in Jefferson. Greene County School District Owner’s Representative Sam Harding says security was a top priority when building the new facility.

Harding says students will enter through the south main doors at the start of the school day and then those doors will lock for the rest of the day. He describes how the students that have open campus can be admitted into the building.

“They will have an app on their phone that they can wave it over the control at the door and it will allow them in, if they are allowed in. It will then record who they were, when they came in and exact time, (and) if they had anyone else with them. All these things will be recorded by the system.”

Harding highlights another security feature with each of the high-resolution cameras that are located throughout the facility.

“If you had a person that you saw that you weren’t sure who they were you can put facial recognition on that face and say, ‘Show every place that person went in the building.’ Within seconds you’ll have every camera that pulls up that face through the entire facility, so you’ll know where that person went and what they did.”

Finally, Harding adds, only the north side main doors will be unlocked throughout the school day, but visitors must go through the main office, as the second set of doors will be locked, providing a secure environment.