The start of the school year saw many new policies the administration said would be implemented during the year. First, the administration introduced a lockout policy, aimed to ensure that students arrive to classes on time. Next came a parking pass requirement for student drivers. None of these policies seem to have had much tangible effect, adding to the administration’s apparent year-after-year lack of enforcement of its new policies.
The lockout policy was made to seem legitimate and impactful at the beginning of this semester. Every morning, administrative staff would speak to the whole school over the intercom, expressing the importance of arriving at class on time to avoid being locked out and facing severe punitive action. When students continued to arrive late in the mornings, the policy was changed to exempt first period. Teachers rarely, if ever, seem to actually enforced it. The announcements slowly faded and the policy stopped being discussed entirely.
Similarly, the parking policy was intended to be taken seriously — just as it has been the past two years. Although the administration checks for parking passes and runs tags, I have never been reprimanded for lacking a pass. Why try to enact a policy that has already proven to be a failure twice in the past? Student safety is essential, but implementing a previously ineffective system to check cars sets a negative precedent. Many policies are approached the same way –– building them up as important but not enforcing them as such. Doing so makes students question their legitimacy and not fear repercussion.
There are many reasons why the policies may not be effectively enforced. When questioned about the policies, administrative staff said that all of the policies mentioned were being dutifully enforced and seeing positive results. Perhaps they consider the apparently limited enforcement provided sufficient, or that it instills enough fear to be effective. It is also likely that their limited resources simply do not allow for them to allocate enough effort toward enforcing these policies fully. Either way, enforcement does not seem to be effective as implemented, and a recurring theme of failed policy enforcement persists.
Maintaining effective policies requires all staff to be supportive. Any serious policy needs to be agreeable to teachers, who should be able to use their own discretion in enforcement. I have not seen any teachers lock students out of their class since the first week the policy was enacted, although I have certainly seen students arrive late.
A balance between the necessity of a policy and the full staff’s participation is needed. Some policies (like the lockout policy) may be best approached a different way to avoid punishing students for being mere seconds late to class. Other policies (like the parking passes) should probably be enforced with more authority. As it stands, despite the administration claiming otherwise, many policies that are incorporated every year seem not to be followed as thoroughly as intended.
I want to make it very clear that the administration is not doing a bad job — they constantly work hard to ensure the well-being of students. It seems, however, that sometimes they overreach when it may not be necessary. Making a policy seem serious, but not enforcing it as such causes students to question its legitimacy. Teachers should be able to use their discretion to enforce policies, and the policies themselves should not set such a precedent in order to have desired effects.
