Every year, students are disicplined for breaking rules throughout the school. Inside the code of conduct is a list of disciplinary rules in the school for students to follow.
According to principal Andrew Neely, those rules all go through an approval procedure.
“All consequences are outlined to be code of conduct. We propose changes to that every year. And those changes then are reviewed by our school district solicitor,” Neely said.
The discipline phase starts with a student conference.
“A lot of times, the assistant grade level principal will meet a student who’s done something against the code of conduct,” Neely said. “Now that’s for typically lower-level things unless it’s repeated, and then it goes to a detention. After-school detention could be a teacher detention, sometimes teachers assign detentions as well. Saturday detention is something it progresses into. We have our behavioral intervention classroom, then we have out-of-school suspensions. I hate out-of-school suspensions because we’re removing students from the environment that they need to be in. Learning things is really tough when you’re out of school. That is our last resort.”
Phones and earbuds have been a big problem throughout the school year. After many announcements were sent out about putting phones in lockers and earbuds out during school, it continues to happen, but some students tend to disagree with how the rules are set.
“I think we should be allowed to use them, we’re getting to the point where technology is getting more advanced and phones are the way we are gonna keep up,” sophomore Kameron Mayhue said.
Mayhue has one clear opinion regarding the rules for cell phones.
“I think the rules should be if you’re done with your work, you can get on your phone,” Mayhue said.
Some students see others with AirPods while some don’t always notice.
“I don’t really pay attention to other kids in halls or my classes, so I don’t know if they have their phones or not,” Mayhue said.
Vaping is still happening in bathrooms and other places even though the school tried to make changes, like having the doors wide open the whole day. Students are still finding a way around it.
“One of the biggest things that scares me recently is a trend we’ve seen in the last year, where vapes are being mixed with drugs that aren’t safe. Maybe you don’t even know what the added drugs even are,” Neely said. “That’s extremely dangerous because you have no idea what things could be in that, and if you guys pay attention, the level of fentanyl is huge—It’s another epidemic. That’s one of those things that’s a one-and-done. You can hit that vape that has fentanyl in it and you may not come back—that scares the living daylights out of me. I pride myself on always keeping students’ safety and security as number one. It’s in my mind, that’s my biggest job: to make sure you guys are safe when you walk into the building. And then we’ll take care of the learning and everything else, but the number one is to make sure you’re safe and secure. When those things come into the school, we no longer have a safe environment as we could.”
According to Neely, the sensors used to detect when someone is vaping are put to very good use.
“I would encourage any of you, and any student that’s going to read this article, that if you are in a bathroom, and there are students in there that are engaging in vaping when they go in the bathroom, I highly encourage students to find an adult,” Neely said. “Specifically, find a grade level principal and say, ‘Hey, I was in bathroom XYZ and while I was there, there were three kids vaping.’ If you knew the right time, we’d never use names and all we have to do is go to the cameras. Now obviously we don’t have cameras in the bathrooms for very obvious reasons. But, we do have cameras right outside of everything so that helps. If you’re tired of seeing and being in bathrooms that are disgusting and have people in there that are vaping, help us kick it [vaping] to the curb.”
For sophomore Isabella Miller, rules for vaping need to be more strict.
“I understand that it is your body’s choice, but kids are ruining their lungs, and it’s going to drastically affect their future and the teachers and staff do not have strict enough rules,” Miller said.
Each day the vaping sensors go off around 15-20 times.
“I think it should be 10 days out honestly,” Miller said. “If you’re going to do it in school, you’re going to be punished.”
Miller often hears about students vaping when at lunch or during class.
“Kids always like the bathroom after class, and I even see kids doing it under their hoodies and in the bathrooms,” Miller said.
When coming into school, students are required to have a clear backpack. If students do not do so, they will place their regular backpack in the main office to grab at the end of the day. Clear t
ote bags, however, are still being used throughout the day to hold students’ books and binders.
“I personally don’t use a tote bag, but I think for many it is convenient so that they don’t have to worry about carrying heavy binders around or carrying a backpack to school,” freshman Elexis Hawksworth said.
Hawksworth believes that although students should be able to have them, there should be restrictions for them.
“They should have to be checked every morning along with everything else, and they should only be allowed to be a certain size in order to not take up space in classrooms,” Hawksworth said.
While walking in the halls, Hawksworth doesn’t often see them in the halls or in any of her classes.
“For the people that I do see carrying them, it seems reliable for them,” Hawksworth said.
Dress code problems are still occurring. When coming to school, students should be wearing appropriate clothing. Some students believe that the dress code continues to become more strict.
“As long as you’re not wearing anything that’s extremely inappropriate, I think we should be allowed to express ourselves a little bit more, as long as you keep it in an appropriate sense,” senior Emma McCloskey said.
McCloskey believes that breaking the dress code is too harsh to receive a detention as punishment.
“I know kids who bring a change of clothes and still get punished. I think that the rules or the punishments are way too strict. If somebody has on something that violates the dress code, they can get something brought to them or go to Rachel’s Closet. And hopefully, they’ll change that in the future,” McCloskey said.
Public display of affection (PDA) is something that is happening more than people may think. Kissing or romantically touching in the halls during class switches is considered PDA.
“PDA is something that I see very often in the halls and it makes me very uncomfortable,” sophomore Taber Baker said. “It is something between you and one other person, you don’t need to do it where everybody can see.”
According to Baker, he often sees PDA during class changes or at the beginning and end of the school day.
“You don’t need to full-on makeout with someone in the middle of the halls,” Baker said. “Just a small hug or like a small kiss will be fine.”
Student identification is one of the most important things in school. Staff members and teachers need to be able to identify any student at any moment, either if it is for a medical reason and a nurse needs to know who a student is to see a medical file, or if it is because there is an intruder in the building and police and principals need to make sure that person is a student and not the intruder.
“I understand those rules and that makes sense because if someone comes into the school and they aren’t wearing an ID, they will know they don’t belong,” sophomore Rylee Bush said.
Bush often sees students without IDs at school.
“I feel there will be a day that you forget it. People forget things, but if it’s a daily occurrence with the same student, then look into discipline,” Bush said.
This is how your fellow students feel about different matters in the school. The matters in the school affect everyone’s day differently. Whether it’s getting your phone confiscated or getting written up for dress code, the matters are different in everyone’s mind.
