The official newspaper of Edina High School VOLUME 38, ISSUE 1, Oct. 12
Should We Block Sites on School Wifi? See Opinion ......... 8
New Attendance Policy See Opinion ......... 8
Hennepin Theatre Trust Cr itical R eview
Should We Judge Historical Figures Based on Present-Day Views? See Opinion, Head to Head ......... 9
City of Edina Opens Apartments for H o m e l e s s Yo u t h See News ......... 3
Lack of Insulation in Student Services Wing
See News ......... 3
Where in the World is Doc Loc? See Features ......... 4
The Secret Life of Scott Lenz See Features ......... 4
F r a n s k e ’s Ta k e o n t h e EHS Dress Code See In-Depth ......... 6-7
photo by Zoe Cheung
See Activities ......... 10
Students, Admin: A Divided Relationship on the Mend
O
Jenna Simon online editor in chief
n the morning of Thursday, Sept. 14, several Edina High School students went to school prepared to stand alongside their peers in protest of the enforcement of Edina Public Schools’ dress code and the perceived sexualization of female students. “The way that it started out was that everyone was trying to kind of rally behind this one issue . . . Everybody kind of thought ‘Hey, this is an example of a much larger issue relating to rape culture, relating to
sexualization of young females all over America, all over the world,’” senior Lauren Smith said. “We thought, ‘Hey, this is our opportunity to say something and do something.’” What started out as a protest with constructive intentions quickly spiraled out of control, with students gathering in the Commons at one point during the day, some standing on tables and others chanting. Full Article on Pages ......... 6-7
Lack of Insulation in Counseling Offices
A
Simone Vaillancourt page editor
fter a summer of construction at Edina High School, many areas of the new building were still a work in progress when teachers and students got back for the new year; even some spaces that looked ready were not. According to EHS college counselor Bill Hicks, the student services wing was never equipped with insulation, a fact which immediately posed problems to counselors and social workers when they returned for teacher inservice week at the end of summer break. “When we moved in, we got into our offices and all of us noticed that anybody who was on the wall to the hallway could hear people working outside the office,” Hicks said, “We could hear our colleagues from room to room. Everyone was kind of in the same situation.” Whereas a lack of wall insulation may have been an annoyance in new classrooms, the situation posed a more serious problem in the context of the counseling offices. Counselors are held to strict confidentiality standards; anything that they talk about with EHS students must be kept between the student and counselor. Because the walls were not insulated, there was a possibility that people outside of the office could hear confidential conversations. “We had assumed that
the rooms would be insulated for privacy,” Hicks said, “But even with the doors closed, it seemed like the walls were talking.” In addition to confidentiality problems, the lack of insulation in the offices caused temperature fluctuations within certain rooms. According to Hicks, there were days when the highest temperature reached in the counseling wing was near 60 degrees. “It’s been a work in progress since we’ve moved in,” he said. After weeks of dealing with cold temperatures and thin walls, the student services department notified their administrative team about the issue. After speaking with the school architects, the administration told the department that there was in fact no insulation, and that they would be adding it as soon as possible. According to Hicks, the construction team added the insulation on the week of Sept. 18 by working through the ceiling so as not to interrupt the staff. Social worker Laura Livesay, who works in an office near the entrance to the wing, also felt the effects of the insulation problem. She added that the construction team had used spray foam insulation to fill the walls. Full Article on Page ......... 4
October 12, 2017| 38:1