Study Hall
One of the more irritating of changes in recent years was the replacement of Free Periods with Study Halls. Study Halls are just another way for the administration to control every movement and act of the students, and just another way to eliminate any illusion of choice or freedom. Gone are the days of signing out for a forty-five minute nap in your car, and gone are the days of talking with friends in the lunchroom. Welcome to the days where you are kept in one room, with nothing to do and restricted from even the most basic of privileges.
Students are not allowed to put their heads down, sleep, listen to music or anything else that might result in a little bit of relaxation. Who benefits from preventing students to listen to a little music while they sit? If it helps them to concentrate, and perhaps even do a little work, where is the problem? If it doesn't bother anyone, and it's not causing a disruption, where is the harm? I ask again, who benefits?
If I may, I'd like to talk a little about what I've accomplished this year in Study Hall. I reached a high score of 10867 in Jetman, which I'm proud to say is the highest in the Highland Park High School network. I've read over twenty-five graphic novels that I received for Christmas, and I wrote five freestyles. As you can clearly see, I've accomplished much in the time given to me.
I'm sure there are some of you out there who actually spend their Study Hall time doing work. That's great, but I'm sure that, given the opportunity, you would do that same work during a free period. But I digress, the chances of this article or anything anyone says actually affecting policy are about equal to any one of you beating my Jetman score. Slim to none.
The Revised Mid-Term Schedule, or "The Biggest Waste of My Time Since Study Hall"
An introspective analysis by Ronnie Cacace
In another brilliant decision by the Powers That Be, Highland Park High School's Midterm Exams would keep students in school for the entire day. In former years, the time after the exams was free, with the school day ending early. Students were free to go home and sleep, study, relax, spend time with friends, and basically just unwind after spending over two hours taking exams. Teachers also benefited from this schedule, as it allowed them the time to grade and mark tests, which would otherwise take up their free time. Some people looked forward to Midterms, just for the half-days and opportunities to sleep from noon to midnight.
All these things sound wonderful, don't they? They sound like things that you would enjoy partaking in, perhaps even feel happy about. Would you like to experience these events?
Too bad.
The revised Midterm schedule kept students in class for the full seven hours of the day, (oh hey, we got out ten minutes early! I forgot about that. So it was more like six hours and forty-five minutes.) There were two midterms each day, with two "classes", two "breaks", and a designated lunchtime to complete the schedule. How did this all fare? How did our magnificent school manage to deal with this new schedule?
Quite poorly.
None of the exams that I took required more than half the time allotted, except for one. In almost all of exams, people were left with a good half-hour to forty-five minutes to sleep or study for their next test. I never study, as I find studying is detrimental to my grades. I know that there are some people out there, who do study, and you have my apologies. I can't possibly imagine what it's like to live like that. For the "classes" that students had between exams, absolutely nothing was accomplished. I'm not even trying to be funny, nothing got done in any of these classes. Teachers were busy trying to keep the restless students quiet, while trying to grade stacks of papers. Students were either exhausted from having to get up early to take exams or hyper from the lack of activity. I haven't even gotten to the best part yet, just wait for it, you're going to love this.
During the second fifteen-minute "break", students were told that snacks would be served in the cafeteria. Apparently, someone forgot to carry the two in one of the equations they used that created this excuse of a schedule, because the entire Middle School was using the lunchroom. Do you remember those guys? The same Middle School students who were supposed to have their own lunchroom?
Students were told they had to report to the auditorium, (Let me take a minute here to just say that I could not have made this stuff up. I'm a funny guy, but this is just way beyond even my capabilities. This is million-dollar comedy material, right here.) Upon arriving to the auditorium, students were told once again that the Middle School was occupying the area and that they would have to leave. With nowhere to go, and no one to tell them what to do, the students did exactly what any other teenager with free time would do. Loiter in the hallways, create blockades, form embargoes on communist countries, and start drum circles. The best part about this wasn't the fact that students had nowhere to go, or that the Powers That Be failed to remember that we share our illustrious building with a large amount of preteens. The best part was that I had to go to the main office and inform the people working about what was going on. The administration had no idea, as they were in a meeting and unreachable at the time. I will forever remember these fifteen minutes as the funniest fifteen minutes of my life, even better than that time I got suspended in my freshman year. The next day, students were again left to wander in the hallways, only with supervision this time. Things gradually return to whatever passes for "normal" around Highland Park, and everyone seems to have forgotten about those fifteen minutes. I haven't, and I doubt I ever will.
Lockdown
I'm a senior at Highland Park High School, and here is my account of the events that transpired at the school today. At around 12:22 PM, all high school students were brought to the auditorium for an assembly about the new security systems installed in our school. The systems are comprised of cameras, magnetic locks on all doors, alarms that sound if the doors are opened, and other 'necessary precautions.'
I asked a question about what was being done to protect the kids INSIDE the school from people INSIDE the school. He told me that they have the buttons that open the doors in case of emergency, and that they would be used for that. There was discussion about what would happen if someone had a gun in the school and what would happen, a lockdown.
After the assembly, (about 1:00), all high school students were taken out to the football field to sit on the bleachers and watch the football game. At around 2:40 (normal dismissal time), students got up and proceeded to head towards the back of the school, in order to get their belongings and exit through the school. Before students could enter the cafeteria, they were being turned back by several students and faculty, telling them it was 'for their safety' and that 'it was serious.'
I went back towards the bleachers, all the while listening in to the paranoia and hysteria, and admittedly, contributing to it myself. There was a rumor spreading about someone being in the building with a gun, about someone shooting inside the school, but nothing was really known at the time. The faculty continued to push students back towards the bleachers, while the football game continued to play. Police vehicles and officers started entering the back parking lot from fifth avenue, the presence of police officers was steadily increasing.
Having not eaten since 9 AM that morning due to the faculty's poor foresight on scheduling shorter classes and an 'event', I was hungry and tired. I've been going to Highland Park High School for five years now (middle school for 2 years, high school for 3 years so far), and I know the layout of the building and the property well. Myself and two others decided to head home early by exiting towards the back of the football field, through a fence, and onto fourth avenue. While walking home, I noticed a police vehicle blocking off a side entrance to the school on 4th avenue.
After checking the news at home, my friend and I went back to the school to retrieve his vehicle, which he had left there in our hurry to leave. On the way back, we walked pass the middle school (connected to the high school), where parents where waiting across the street and in their cars. There were 5 police cars in the area in front of the high school entrance, and a 6th police car in front of the public library across the street.
I met up with a few of my friends, who informed me the high schoolers had been let go through an exit on fourth avenue, that the middle school was in lock down, and that there were also several high schoolers and staff that were locked down in the high school as well. They had not been told anything by the police, and they had heard the same rumor as I had (that someone had a gun in the school.)
The mayor soon arrived, and began talking with parents and the police. Reporters and photographers arrived, asking questions and taking down information. My friends and I were in contact with people who were inside the school at the time, via cellular telephone. The people inside the school did not have any idea of what was going on at the time. Eventually, the students were released, and no information as to the WHY or WHAT had happened.