From Andrew Selesnick, Principal
October 19th, 2004
At school today, I called all students to the gym for a short assembly during what would have been the time for homeroom. The purpose of the meeting was to let the students know that we are responding seriously to the actions of the past week (the threats and other graffiti that have been found around school), to assure them that safety is always our primary concern, and then to emphasize the impact that this kind of behavior can and will have on a community such as ours.
We have long been proud of the responsibility our students demonstrate in what is an extraordinarily free and open high school campus. Our students enjoy many freedoms rare in public high schools around the country: the freedom to make decisions about how to use their unassigned time; to move about the campus without a hall pass; for seniors, to leave campus during the school day. Even the fact that our students have unassigned time is relatively rare. We consider this freedom a strength in the educational experience we offer, but if we are to stop the current behavior and catch the person or people responsible for it, it seems we must become a more restrictive place. Sadly, we now have the need to monitor more closely student movement and activity on our campus.
Starting today, teachers will make note each time a student leaves a class to go to the bathroom, to go to the nurse, or for any other reason. In addition, we have closed access to a couple of bathrooms on campus, and administrators and teachers will more closely supervise the open bathrooms. For now those are the only changes, but if the graffiti continues, I have informed students that we may need to revoke some of those other freedoms mentioned above.
In addition, we have established a telephone line by which students or other members of the community may anonymously leave information regarding the actions of the past week. I was clear in stating my expectation that we all take responsibility for our community and all play a part in helping to maintain the privileges we so cherish. I encourage parents who may receive information through conversation with their children to make use of this phone line. It is 861-9400, x356.
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