Patrolling across the vast parking lot of James Bowie High School, making sure that no underclassmen leaves and no one is where they’re not supposed to be sounds easy enough, right?

Wrong.

Security officer Andy Padgett roams the school protecting students and enforcing general safety, while also making sure that students don’t take their cars where they’re not supposed to be.

Since the opening of the school, Padgett has been doing this job for more than twenty years.

“I’ve been here since the school opened, which was in 1988,” Padgett said.

While the school has slowly transformed throughout the years, Padgett says that the most dramatic change is students moving in and out of the school.

“Just the faces have changed, however the appearances of the infrastructure have changed for the better,” Padgett said.

Padgett follows a strict and regimented schedule every week in order to get all the work he needs finished.

“On Mondays, I issue parking permits for students,” Padgett said. “Other mornings I watch late buses to determine if I need to hand students passes.”

Working with high school students can become difficult, especially when it comes to more rebellious and disrespectful teens.

“If a student is disrespectful towards me, I say ‘let’s go to the office and talk to the principal,’” Padgett said.

Some students may not be aware of the help Padgett brings to this school, or just may not be aware of what his job is in general. However, junior Crosby LaGrone shares her insight on her opinions of him.

“I mean, yes we need him,” LaGrone said. “He really cracks down on the kids but at the same time he doesn’t help the kids.”

Many students have mixed opinions of him and his duty to the school. Some students think that his job might be unnecessary or an inconvenience, while others think that he and his job is essential to keep the school running.

“It’s his job to stop us and make sure we are doing what we said we would do,” senior Kristen Poole said. “We, as teenagers, like to make a big deal out of things and blame people for things we can’t have, which in this case is going off campus during lunch or being able to park on campus without a sticker.”

While he often faces disrespectful students and being called a ‘bad guy’, Padgett always appreciates kind students.

“It’s so nice when a student says hi,” Padgett said. “The first time or two, I admit I was suspicious about what they were up to, but they kept doing it so I concluded that they were just a generally nice person.”

Although many students disagree, Padgett explains that he only means to do his job.

“I’m not a mean guy, I just have a bad job,” Padgett said. “Teens will be teens and I’m just the person put in place to enforce that.”