With over 2,000 students attending Etowah, the school has over 2,000 reasons to strive for security and safety. Robert Horn emphasizes his belief that security is one of the most important things at school.  

“The two main things that are important are keeping students safe and getting them educated,” Horn said. 

Horn also takes time to meet and talk to his staff to know what concerns they may have.  

“We are just making sure things work properly,” Horn said. 

Due to the large crowds at games, Horn worked to install gating around the top of the stadium and around the football field. He thinks safety is the top priority at games, considering most of Etowah’s student body and staff attends.  

“It was just free roam, all kinds of crazy stuff going on. You had to have some sort of border,” Horn said. 

Over the past year as principal, Horn has implemented more new security. There is now an extra set of eyes over at Etowah East, thanks to East’s new front office clerk, Beth Garriques. She helps make sure that everything runs smoothly and safely. New doorbell systems have been installed at both East and Main, and all exterior doors are locked to keep intruders from entering as they please.  

“The main thing I did was make sure the original things worked properly,” Horn said. 

Horn has a set of core beliefs on how Etowah should operate. As his second year here, he is still working to keep a safe environment for students and staff.