Starting last Tuesday afterschool, the Law Area furniture was abruptly taken from students, sparking outrage and protest efforts. No, seriously; there were a few students promptly chanting, “Give us back our chairs,” outside the Law Office at 9am the following day. This being said, many were considerably confused and conflicted when they received the Remind message on Wednesday from Principal Jones stating that the Law Area would not be suitable for eating during lunch or even hanging out throughout the day.
The obvious—and most urgent—question was ‘How do we get them back?’ Luckily, there was truly no malicious intent behind the action taken by Jones; he just wanted to see changes in students’ behavior: “Like I said in the Remind, it’s not an indefinite thing. I want to see a couple changes.” For one, he named cleanliness the most important change he aims to reach. He told us, “The problem is, it’s not just Law students. The furniture was purchased for Law students, so it’s [their] area.” He went on to drive the point that the Law Magnet students, as well as any outside friends, need to maintain a clean area; in other words, leave the site the same as—or better than—you found it. He said that people leave a lot of stuff which isn’t the reflection we want to leave of ourselves as a school or a building.
Jones’s second point was being in the area when you’re not allowed. He emphasized the fact that he recognizes that many teachers, such as Ms. Lee, Mr. Smeltzer, or Mr. Lyons, might allow students to complete classwork outside, stating that it’s expected; “[You all] have permission to be there.” However, that’s not the only time he sees students sitting in the area outside of lunchtime. “There are just groups of kids that have called or texted each other just to hangout; why are [they] here? That’s got to stop.” He said that instructional time is precious and nobody should be hanging out, “just to hang out.” Mr. Jones also explained that he doesn’t mind other students being in the area. “It’s just an open area; they’re going to sit there,” he proclaimed, “…but, if you’re in our area and using our furniture, you need to clean up behind yourself.”
In the interview, he also specifically addressed our seniors, explaining, “To the Law seniors: Take care of your area. If somebody is in the area, you ask them politely, ‘Hey this is for the Law seniors, please find somewhere else to go.’ Do it in a nice way and move on, but that’s your area; protect [it]” If you didn’t notice, the Law Senior Area remained mostly unharmed and although one could assume that they had nowhere to fit the Law Senior Area’s many tables and chairs, I beg to argue that it’s just because the area is kept clean. Law Seniors and the few non-Law-Senior students that enter that space maintain its cleanliness.
All things considered, he wasn’t asking for much. As a student body made of competent teens, we shouldn’t have to be constantly reminded to clean up after ourselves. We often forget that the furniture is in fact not a right; it is a privilege. Luckily for us though, Mr. G convinced Mr. Jones to put the furniture back. In less than a week, the freak-out was finished, but it begs the question: Did we earn it back? Did we seriously deserve to get the furniture back? I mean, no one is mad that we got it back, but are students going to learn from this if they didn’t truly get punished? Of course, one could hope that something like this never happens again, but did the student-offenders get the message?
As a current senior, whether the Law Area is there or gone doesn’t bother me much—FYI, it used to be really cool lockers. So, I turn to the juniors and underclassmen: Are you going to do your due-diligence to keep this area by cleaning it up? Do you deserve the Law Area seating?
