It’s fall. The leaves on the trees have changed colors from their summery greens to the vibrant reds and yellows of fall. Students wear poly-blend wool sweaters instead of their tattered shorts. The once pristine student lounge is now littered with old papers and quizzes, pencils and books. These natural transitions happen each year.

Things change, but other things stay the same. Every night when we go home, we close the door quick behind us and double lock it shut. We’ve done this since we were children. We’re afraid of bad guys. But at Sandy Spring Friends School, there aren’t any bad guys, are there?

On October 19th, the Assistant Head of the Upper School, Karen Cumberbatch, announced in Meeting for Worship that the doors to Moore Hall and other buildings around campus would be locked at night. You could hear a shocked silence fall on the meeting. Then, you could hear whispered questions: “How will we get our books?” “When will they lock it?” This came as a shock. Students have long been comforted by the fact that in the Sandy Spring community, the doors were always open. At home, where we live our private lives, closed doors symbolize a sense of security, but at SSFS, a closed door locks the community out, rewrites our community values and Quaker tradition.

Since the days of the Civil War, Quakers wouldn’t lock their doors as they believed it didn’t reflect trust in the community. I remember learning this in third grade. Now the administration has decided to install new locks around campus and the tradition of trust symbolized by those open doors in Quaker homes during a time of war will no longer live on at our school.