Butler School District Superintendent Brian White has announced that the senior high school campus will be closed to the public during school hours starting Monday. School police will be stationed at both ends of Campus Lane starting at 7:36 a.m. on school days.

BUTLER TWP — Butler Senior High School's campus will be closed to the public during school hours starting Monday, district Superintendent Brian White announced Sunday.

In an effort to improve security, school police will be stationed at both ends of Campus Lane — which connects New Castle Road and Fairground Hill Road — starting at 7:36 a.m. on school days, according to an email sent to parents and school employees Sunday afternoon.

Parents, teachers, students and anyone with legitimate business on campus arriving after that time will be asked to present identification and will be allowed in, White said.

Vehicles headed to the Butler County Vocational-Technical School will also be stopped. Pedestrians getting to the campus via a walkway from Hansen Avenue will be unaffected.

In the email, White advised anyone with an appointment at the school or picking up a student to give themselves a bit of extra time.

One effect of this change is that during the day, drivers will no longer be able to use Campus Lane as a shortcut from New Castle Road to the Intermediate High School or the Lyndora area, which is a common practice.

“During the course of the day there's a lot of traffic that goes back and forth there,” White said.

Through-traffic on Campus Lane will be turned away between the first bell at 7:36 a.m. and dismissal. Students leave campus after the final bell, which is at 2:44 p.m., according to its website.

Campus Lane, though used as a public road and posted with 15 mph signs, is owned and maintained by the school district, not Butler Township.

White said the logistics of the new system will be adjusted as needed.

“We know we need some flexibility. We do not want to back traffic up onto any of the roads, so we will be adjusting things as the day progresses,” he said.

The district will use two substitute school officers as guards for the remainder of the school year and the administration is looking into options for a parking gates that would allow school officers to screen traffic from inside the school, White said.

There are 19 full-time school security officers, all retired state troopers, who patrol the district's schools. None of them will be moved from their normal assignments as part of this change, White said.

This new measure was preceded by two recent events that have brought school security to the minds of many.

Last Wednesday 17 people were killed when a 19-year-old man with an automatic rifle opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Closer to home, Bryan P. Flecken, 28, of Bridgeville was arrested Friday for allegedly commenting on Facebook that he was going to buy a rifle and “shoot up” one of the Butler schools.

Butler Senior High School is also unique in that it has an open campus design where students frequently walk between buildings on a daily basis.

At many schools, such as the nearby Intermediate High School, there is only one door through which students and visitors can enter and leave the building during the day, making security simpler, White said.