Dear Editor:  

The NHS administration has made drastic changes on how this school operates. Four years ago when I was a freshman, NHS was a free place — a place many enjoyed being.  Juniors and seniors could go anywhere in the school they wanted. You could eat where you wanted, and the doors were less secure. In contrast, seniors of 2017 are locked in almost the entire day, only able to leave while on release, which even then, is an over exaggerated study hall. Basically, you are able to leave school if you have a car or you are lucky enough to have a friend willing to let you borrow his.

In the last couple of years, the rules on when and where you can eat has become extremely strict.  It used to be free reign and students could eat wherever they please. Then slowly over the years the administration has taken away that privilege. They started with telling students that they would only be allowed to eat in the commons area or the cafeteria, now they tell us that the only place we are able eat is the cafeteria. When this rule is not followed, I have witnessed in many cases where over excessive measures have been taken to let kids know it is not okay to eat in the commons.

Administration has also created what many students have called a “release jail.” Where students are confined in the commons while in school. If students leave the building and come back before the end of the mod they are forced to sit by the main doors. The trust in the students have dwindled in the past years, with rare cases of school shootings like; Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia-Tech etc. In 2012, the chances of a school shooting in K-12 is 1-53,925, the chances of a school shooting in an elementary school or middle school is 1-141,463 and the most likely chance is in a high school which has a 1-21,000 chance. So, the school keeping the students locked in this release jail is ridiculous. The leading cause for school violence in the United States is bullying and the ease of access young teen-agers have access to firearms and other weapons. Schools cannot control the access students have to guns, but they can monitor bullying and making sure the school is a fun and safe environment for all students.   

Aside from the jail that houses the upperclassmen, the underclassmen have also been affected by the administration’s new policies. With the junior and senior’s able to leave during the day the school’s freshmen and sophomores are stuck in a tutorial, which has gone under many rule changes in the recent years. Including having to have passes in the hallway, confined to their tutorial or the library. In past years students with a tutorial were given free roam within the walls of the school. Now, students are constantly hounded on where they are going and why.

All of these rule changes in the past couple of years have shown the student body that the administration has no trust in them. While the administrators try to feed them the line that they are trying to prepare them for adulthood and future jobs. If this was so they would put more trust in their students and give them the freedom that adults get. We all know that adults and jobs do not treat you like that nor do they confine you in one place for an excessive amount of hours. So, how exactly are they preparing us for adulthood when 18 year olds still need a pass in the hallways to go to the bathroom?

Sincerely,

Brexton Bostwick, senior