Probational Cell Phone Policy Unfairly Burdens Students

May 2, 2011
Filed under Editorial

In response to student and staff requests for a more lenient cell phone policy, the administration announced in March that cell phones will temporarily be allowed during brunch and lunch. Fourth quarter will be used as a trial period to determine the effectiveness of the new policy. The administration...

School Should Permit Cell Phone Use During Non-Academic Periods

October 19, 2010
Filed under Editorial

Walking across the quad during lunch, students and teachers alike share no surprise when they see people on their cell phones. Students on their phones know fully well that they are violating the school’s cell phone policy, but they continue to text in the hallway. This policy, as defined in the school’s...

Tags: carolyn huang, cell phone, Editorial

Overall School Improvement Due to Efforts of Both Students, Staff

September 22, 2010
Filed under Editorial

Tutorials spent on STAR test prep may have finally paid off. Staff members find it difficult to pinpoint a defining reason for testing improvement, but the rising Academic Performance Index (API) score shows that the school is on the right track. This year, the school raised its score to 853—a...

Tags: API score, Editorial, Editorial Board, school efforts

‘Listening to Student Voices’ event can help promote understanding

November 13, 2009
Filed under Editorial

When third period ends on Monday, students will have an hour-long activity before their next class. But students cannot write it off as just another pointless Tutorial video. If they listen to it, students will hear their peers share heartfelt, honest stories about their lives. After 500 hours of editi...

Students, Teachers Must Have Open Discussions About Offensive Humor

September 25, 2009
Filed under Editorial

When marching band returned from its retreat earlier this month, most students were still thinking about the Skit Night jokes that had become so distasteful. Some were trying to keep the story hushed up, while others were unsure as to why the humor was so offensive in the first place. However inapp...

Health Van Provides Valuable Resource to Divided Campus

Editorial Board
October 17, 2008
Filed under Editorial

It’s not often that household conversations begin with the words, “Mom, can you make me a doctor’s appointment? I think I may have gotten an STD from Jenny, and I want to ask our family pediatrician about it.” The typical teen would not say such a thing to his mother if his life depended on ...

School Should Let DIversity Happen, Not Force its Teaching

Editorial Board
May 2, 2008
Filed under Editorial

The emotion that filled the air as students packed into the gym for the Diversity Assembly on April 11 was different from the one visible on their faces when teachers announced that tutorial period would be spent discussing the impact of derogatory words a few weeks earlier. The Diversity Assembly and the Power of Wo...

Staff Members Ought to Play Bigger Role in “Words” Activity

Editorial Board
March 25, 2008
Filed under Editorial

Last year, a police officer had to escort a Hispanic student from the office to guarantee his safety because with a single derogatory word, the student had offended several African-American students to the point of violence. While the actions of all involved were deplorable, the story is ...

School Ought to Send Richer Message to Student Groups

Editorial Board
March 4, 2008
Filed under Editorial

When the school’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tried to book the Eagle Theatre, it found the process comparable to navigating a maze of thorny shrubs. After a month of unanswered e-mails, it took a phone call and another week for the theater manager to finally give the single feasible da...

Speaker Presentations Offer More Than Just Career Advice

Editorial Board
February 5, 2008
Filed under Editorial

During Writers Week, dozens of writers come to the school to spend their time inspiring new generations of writers. They speak to students as literary equals, perhaps contemplating whether the next J.K. Rowling is sitting among their ranks. But the students to whom they speak are a different story....

Lack of First Semester Student Bonding Segregates School

Editorial Board
December 14, 2007
Filed under Editorial

During the month of May, students forfeit their lunchtime to attend the annual dodgeball tournament. Although the air in the gym is ripe with the stench of competition, there is a sweeter smell that also exists: the unity of hundreds of students cheering for a sport they love. In April, clubs from a...

Student Activism a Welcome Relief From Student Complaints

Editorial Board
November 21, 2007
Filed under Editorial

The shouts of enthusiasm that filled the quad during brunch Friday, October 26, were not the generally trivial exclamations that accompany brunchtime activities. These exclamations were of a different nature—they were unified shouts for a cause; they were, quite literally, students clamoring to have thei...