New and secure electronic lockers are planned to hold student items that are dropped off in the Visitor Center. By entering a unique code onto the touch-screen panels, a locker is unlocked and students’ belongings can be retrieved.

The electronic lockers are located outside of the Visitor Center. Parents, guardians and teachers can drop off items to be put into the electronic lockers by security personnel, allowing students to pick up items in a more secure and efficient way. Employees at Beck’s Book Store can also place items in the lockers. 

Items can pile up quickly in the Visitor Center, making it difficult to determine whose item is whose, often resulting in traffic jams during passing periods or after school, associate superintendent R.J. Gravel said in an email correspondence.

“The Technology Services Department worked with several innovative locker vendors to identify a solution to try at Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South,” said Gravel. “The lockers were configured with various sizes to accommodate the vast array of items we receive each day.”

When security or bookstore personnel receive a student’s item and bring it to the lockers, they are prompted to select the student whose item they have. Security and bookstore personnel can then choose the appropriately-sized locker and place the item inside. Within a few minutes, students should receive an email informing them that an item is waiting, along with a unique code to unlock the locker. Once students enter the code on the touch-screen panel, the locker opens.

The electronic lockers cost $16,754, technology services manager Ryan Manly said in an email correspondence. 

According to Lauren Bonner, associate principal for administrative services, the electronic lockers add security to the process of distributing items to students.

“As something is coming in from the outside … our security personnel really get to put their hands on it to see it and they’re the ones placing [the item] in the locker,” Bonner said. 

The lockers can be a great way for teachers to distribute materials that cannot be digitized to absent students without scheduling a time to meet, Bonner said. 

Students can access their items from the lockers before, during and after the school day. 

The electronic lockers are planned to enter a piloting phase using only items supplied from Beck’s Book Store around the beginning of November. 

“I think there are some capabilities that we haven’t even imagined yet because it’s such a new concept,” Bonner said. 

“We’ll learn the longer we have [the electronic lockers], the more uses we could possibly have for [them] that are appropriate,” Bonner said.