The Piedmont Highlander

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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Rules overlooked, just words on a page

During passing period, students crowd around the middle of the breezeway discussing the latest gossip with their friends. Are these students violating the rules of the handbook?

Under the Student Conduct Guidelines section, the Piedmont High School Student & Parent Handbook states that “standing or sitting in designated walkway and stairway areas in the central campus which are necessary for the flow of pedestrian traffic is not allowed during passing periods and at the beginning and end of brunch and lunch.”

Senior Jasmine Nadim said a lot of the rules at PHS are not enforced, which is why students do not know about them.

“If the administration is failing to tell us about certain rule,” Nadim said, “how can students be expected to follow them?”

Assistant Principal Anne Dolid said this is not necessarily a rule, it is just something the administration is asking students to do to help with the flow.

“If we felt like there was a flow problem, we would do a lot of educating on the policy before we did any enforcing,” Dolid said.

Dolid said the purpose of the rules in the Handbook are to keep everyone safe and allow everyone to have a level playing field.

“I would say that in terms of the administration, we are very consistent in our application of the rules and the violations,” Dolid said. “Whenever something happens, obviously there are special circumstances, but we pretty much do the same thing every time.”

According to the Handbook, under the Cell Phones/Listening Devices section, “If a cell phone becomes visible, the teacher may ask the student to turn the phone over to him/her until the end of the period. If there is a repeat offense, the teacher will turn the phone into the assistant principal or principal until the end of the day.”

Dolid said there is less consistency with teachers in their enforcement of the rules.

“With cell phones, some teachers will just tell you to put it away while others might take it,” Dolid said.

Nadim said teachers should follow the Handbook, and if a teacher is going to make up their own rule, a student should have the right to argue.

“Honestly, I think the phone rule is pretty strict,” Nadim said. “I understand it’s frustrating for the teacher but a lot of high school students have things going on in their life outside of school and should be able to talk to their parents if they need to.”

Dolid said some teachers handle problems within their classroom, while others go to the administration.

“That makes the rules inconsistent in their application because if we knew about everything, we could make sure the consequences are consistent throughout,” Dolid said.

In Article 3 of the Dress Code section, the Handbook states that “clothes must be sufficient to conceal undergarments and not draw inappropriate attention to the wearer.”

Senior Harrison Friedes said he feels like the Dress Code rules are oppressive.

“I think we should be able to express ourselves freely and if we want to do that through clothes, then we should be able to,” Friedes said.

Nadim feels similarly.

“I understand the reasoning and wanting to make sure the school has a certain respect level,” Nadim said, “but I feel like as high school students, we’re about to be going to college and we don’t necessarily need to be told what we can and cannot wear.”

Dolid said if a student is wearing revealing clothing, the administration will call the student in and ask them to put something else on.

“Anything that negatively affects the learning environment is something that we deal with,” Dolid said. “And if it doesn’t, we try to treat you guys like the young adults that you are.”

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