Any stranger off the street has full access to the school grounds and its students. After the first assault, a delegation of 8 teachers asked Louis Parker (former principle) to hire security guards. The request was precipitated by a faculty debate. Some of the faculty felt that security guards would instill a sense of safety within the school and thus promote a better learning climate, while the rest of the faculty felt that the presence of the guards would destroy the sense of community and trust that was developing (Gabarro, 1993).
After the second teacher assault, the request was made again, except this time, Latino parents threatened to boycott the school unless better security measures were implemented. Once again, Parker refused. During the second year of the school, two sophomores were assaulted during a shakedown and two student disturbances shut the school down. This time, the board of education ordered a temporary detail of municipal police assigned to the school. This resulted in a walkout of 30 Marshall teachers and over half of the student body. This resulted in the police being removed from the school and a compromise was reached. An ad hoc subcommittee of the board of Education along with representatives of teachers who were for and against assigning a police detail reached a compromise on police assignment to the school. The police detail was removed and a single police cruiser was stationed near the school. This however did not prevent "non-student" access to school buildings.
The next idea that was developed to enhance school security was to have all exterior doors locked during school hours. Two of the housemasters, Wesley Chase and Frank Kubiak were strongly against closing the house entrances. Both men felt that such an action would symbolically reduce house autonomy and the feeling of distinctness that was a central aspect of the house identity and pride they were trying to build (Gabarro, 1993).