After a week with three fights on three consecutive days and a riot in the Grady parking lot Friday, Grady administration announced on Sept. 29 that fights will not be tolerated in the future. Under the new policy, students caught watching fights will be punished along with the students fighting. Although the message of this announcement is good, the execution was poor.

First, it is no secret that the majority of students do not listen to the announcements. Yes, there are a few teachers who urge their students to stay quiet, but most teachers use this time at the end of the day to hurry through the rest of the lesson. Even if the announcement is opened with “attention all students,” there will still be students that fail to pay attention.

Second, in the past the administration has also sent home written notices so parents can learn about a change in policy. For this new policy on fights, however, a letter was not issued. Although official letters often get lost in backpacks or thrown away before they are able to reach home, the letters that do make it home allow parents to have discussions with their children to make sure that both parties understand what the letter says. With no letter about the fights, parents who will inevitably learn that their child was sent to the discipline office for watching a fight take place will be reasonably confused and possibly angry.

Third, the casual announcement at the end of the day brought up a question in many students’ minds: Will the disciplinary actions mentioned in the announcement actually be enforced? After four years at Grady, we as an editorial board have experienced a lot of changes and even more plans for changes that were never implemented. Frankly, if nothing changes in regards to fights during school hours, very few students will be surprised.

Finally, and most importantly, students will be students. We will have rap battles during lunch and squeals of friendship in the hallway. We will roam the halls and, on occasion, we will fight each other. All of these things, no matter what attempts the administration makes to stop them, will always exist. It’s part of what makes us who we are. Becasue of this, administration’s attempts to curtail these student behaviors will always be in vain.