Some Minnesota students returning to school this fall noticed a shift in school security as about 40 law enforcement agencies withdrew Student Resource Officers (SROs) from school districts following changes to state law.
The Omnibus Education Bill, which received Governor Walz’s signature in May, now prohibits any school employee or agent from using forms of physical contact on students, including prone restraint, which it defines as placing a child in a facedown position. However, it gives an exception in the case of potential impending bodily harm or death.
In response to the updated law, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department and the Mounds View Police Department have discontinued their SRO partnership with the Mounds View School District. Conversely, the New Brighton Department of Public Safety has not pulled SROs, leaving Bel Air, Highview, Irondale, Pike Lake and Sunnyside as the only schools in the district that
will continue with onsite SROs.
Deputy Abhi Sachdev, who began as Mounds View’s SRO last school year, will no longer be stationed on campus fulltime. Instead, he will carry the title of School Liaison and include Mounds View High School in his daily patrol.
These changes do not affect patrol officers responding to a school and only apply to school resource officers, as explained by Steve Linders, spokesperson for the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office. “What this law does is it creates a double standard,” he said, highlighting that the law does not affect officers in schools as long as they are not affiliated with the school as SROs are.
Law enforcement agencies’ primary concern with the law is the legal risk. “Officers need the flexibility to restrain a person on the ground,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told KARE 11. “We can’t have the risk of one of our officers being accused of a crime for doing his job. We train them to use prone restraint.”
Minnesota House and Senate Republicans believe this is an issue that needs to be
fixed urgently, calling on Walz to convene a special session. While he has said he’s open to it, Walz is hopeful for another solution that doesn’t include bringing lawmakers to the State Capitol. “All of us want our buildings safe, and all of us want to make sure that excessive force is not used on our
students, and I think finding that middle ground shouldn’t be all that difficult,” he said.
Sheriff Fletcher said he expects the matter will go before a judge and will wait on such a decision until reinstating SROs.
“Once we get clarity, one way or another, we’ll be able to make more informed decisions
Across the state, many school districts have implemented new phone policies, and Mounds View is no exception. Over the summer, parents responded to a survey conducted by Mounds View High School regarding phone usage. Using those results and feedback from teachers, Mounds View enacted an updated cell phone policy. 947 parents responded to an email sent out by Mounds View in September, of which 85.9% agree that phones are a major distraction in classrooms, 85.7% support no phones in the
classrooms and 86.5% support the use of phones outside of class time.
At Mounds View, this policy allows students to use phones and earbuds during passing time, at lunch, during ReFLECT and during study hours. However, phones cannot be used in classrooms or hallways during class time. If teachers observe a student using their phone during class, they will invite the student to put their phone in the classroom phone caddy.
Those who do not follow the request will have their phones confiscated by administration for the rest of the day and are also required to turn in their phone the following day. “If you are using your phone during sixth period, you are [only] going to lose it for 10 minutes, [so] there’s no real [incentive] to keep it in your backpack. That is why we [take] it the next day as well,” said principal Robert Reetz.
Students have mixed feelings about the policy — some are strongly opposed, while others see it as beneficial. “When I first heard about the phone policy, I was a little bit surprised, but I was okay with it. I thought it was a good idea,” said senior Elias Hagfors. Another student, senior Otto Coleman, does not have a preference. “I did not really care because the service is so bad in the school anyway, so
I cannot use my phone half the time.”
Senior Kayla Horsch is opposed to the policy because of the inconvenience it creates when contacting parents. “Students can’t call parents now because of the phone policy, and parents can’t contact students directly — they need to go through the office.”
Most teachers favor the policy. “I hope that more homework will be done as a result of this without the distraction of the phone during class time. I hope there is more student engagement during class. I am optimistic those things will take place,” said Scott Oberg, social studies teacher.
Over the past year, Mounds View’s administration took feedback from teachers and created the HERD values to promote student well-being and a positive learning environment. “I listened to teachers last year who were concerned about students and engagement. We identified these values… and teachers were able to demonstrate that allowing phone usage in their classroom was in conflict with our values,” said Reetz. “[Teachers] are very supportive. They feel like we’ve had a great start to our school year and that kids are more engaged.”
Reetz notes that teachers played a definitive role in con-
structing the policy. “We took their feedback and their input, and we created a plan together in partnership,” said Reetz. “And [from] the students’ side of things, to be able to have consistency means they don’t have one class where they can have it out and another class where they can’t and get confused between the two.”
Reetz is confident that
about police officers and their place in schools,” said Linders. After meeting with police groups on Sept. 20, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison offered assurances that officers can prioritize school safety and enforce law, although it is still unclear when exactly SROs will return to schools.
throughout the school year, the phone policy will remain effective. “We asked for commitment. We asked for consistency. They embraced the plan because they had a role in shaping it. We took their feedback and their input, and we created a plan together in partnership. And I think we can have consistency throughout the school year.”
Sportswashing is the act of hosting sporting events or purchasing sports teams to hide corruption and bad practices. Fans and pundits have accused countries like Rwanda and Qatar of sportswashing due to their investments in Formula 1 racing and soccer.
Last year, Qatar hosted the World Cup, and recently, Qatar was accused of sportswashing by using the World Cup to divert attention from the poor working conditions and the deaths of migrant workers. According to The Guardian, at least 6,000 Qatari workers died in the past decade due to a lack of regulations and inadequate care. Many have also had their passports taken by their employers, preventing them from leaving the country. During the World Cup, many fans said they did not see signs of human rights violations and didn’t believe it to be an issue, proving the effectiveness of sportswashing for Qatar.
Now, Saudi Arabia is accused of using sportswashing to cover up their poor track record for human rights. According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia has executed 100 people this year, and the country tortures prisoners according to the U.S. Department of State. Saudi border guards have committed mass killings of migrants at the border of Yemen. Even with these reports, Saudi Arabia is focusing their investments in sports.
Saudi Arabia. In addition, the PIF intends to use sport to diversify the kingdom’s economy by pushing it away from oil and lead Saudi Arabia into international and political prominence.
The first significant move from the PIF in the world of soccer was their purchase of Premier League club Newcastle United for nearly 800 million dollars. The club’s fanbase was divided over the takeover with some not wanting to associate their club with the activities done by Saudi Arabia. The majority of the club’s fanbase, however, has stated that these human rights violations have nothing to do with Saudi or they don’t acknowledge its existence.
their new home, Saudi Arabia.
The majority of these fundings come from the PIF (Public Investment Fund), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The PIF invests and reinvests funds to improve public welfare, support economic growth and diversify the sources of income for the government of
The PIF also invested massively in the Saudi Pro League by signing some of the biggest names in soccer, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, which has greatly increased viewership and sponsorship interest in the league. According to Footmercato, a website dedicated to professional soccer, a number of players are being paid to promote
The recent emergence of Saudi Arabia suggests that the future opportunities of signing players from Europe will be diminished for Major League Soccer (MLS). For the past few decades, MLS, the United States’ first division soccer, has been an attractive destination for players who are nearing the end of their respective careers thanks to the massive paychecks, beautiful cities and peaceful lifestyle of MLS players. However, Saudi Arabia is now competing for their signings due to their massive financial capabilities. For example,
MLS clubs wanted Ronaldo and Benzema before their move to Saudi Arabia, and even though Inter Miami got Messi, they had to fend off competition from Al Hilal, a club in Saudi Arabia.
It’s great that a new soccer culture is blooming in Saudi Arabia, as it has increased the sport’s popularity by attracting a great number of fans and players. However, it is important to recognize sportswashing allegations against countries such as Saudi Arabia rather than feigning ignorance toward their existence.
After working furiously on my college applications one night, I decided to take a break and watch some YouTube videos. A particular video caught my eye. The title read “college decision reactions!!! | 20+ colleges.” My curiosity took over, and before I knew it, I was watching video after video. I was hooked, and my YouTube feed soon became filled with college decision reaction videos.
If you want to learn how to get thousands of views by creating your own college decision reaction video, you’re at the right place. After watching far more of these videos than I’d like to admit, I’ve noticed that all successful college decision reaction videos share some common characteristics.
The thumbnail is always plastered with logos from different schools, typically schools in the top 20 of the U.S. News college rankings. The title reads something like “8+ Ivies and 32+ colleges applied to.”
The video will usually start with an anxious individual sitting in front of their camera and a quick, heartfelt introduction where the applicant states that getting into top schools should not determine your happiness.
The video then jumps to a series of different reactions, in which the applicant takes forever to click the “check status” button, and when they finally do, it is followed by either indifference for an acceptance to a “safety,” a school where acceptance was reasonably certain, screams of joy for an acceptance to a top school or heldback tears for a rejection from a dream school.
Finally, the video ends
with another reminder that “it doesn’t matter where you go to college” and “the college application process shouldn’t determine your happiness.” The problem is that all of their actions in the video contradict this message.
mense pressure on other teens to do the same. Overall, these videos imply that the more colleges you apply to, the more accomplished you will be, when, in fact, most advisers will suggest applying to no more than 10 schools.
At first glance, these videos seem motivating by providing hope for people applying to their schools, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
For one, the fact that these students apply to a ridiculous number of schools places im-
Additionally, this genre is filled with overachievers — 5.0 GPA-ers, national merit scholars and extracurricular-stackers — and is certainly not representative of the majority of applicants, creating unrealistic standards for high school students. Most colleges accept the majority of applicants, and receiving a few Bs or lacking extracurriculars will not bar you from an excellent education.
These overachievers whine about getting rejected from schools ranked amongst the top 10 in the nation, yet they are indifferent to getting accepted into a college lower on their list — colleges that would
be other students’ dream to get into. There’s nothing wrong with applying to top schools, but these videos give off the impression that happiness only comes with acceptance and that highly ranked schools are inherently better than less-selective schools.
At first, watching these videos gave me hope that I, too, could get into my dream college. However, one video led to another, and before I knew it, I watched 15 videos in a row. And instead of feeling hopeful and motivated for the future, I felt even more anxious about getting accepted into my schools of choice.
My suggestion is to stop watching these videos. They only further perpetuate the looming anxiety of college admissions. Relax, trust the process and embrace the uncertainty.
David Anton Golridge REVIEWS & ONLINE EDITOR
“In over a year, Saudi Arabia has spent close to six billion dollars in transfer fees and salaries.”
“At first glance, these videos seem motivating by providing hope for people applying to their schools, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Cars are so intertwined with American culture that they have become a necessity for most households today. According to Forbes Advisor, over 91.7% of American households owned at least one vehicle in 2021. Because of Euclidean zoning, which zones residential areas far from commercial areas, the reliance on driving only increases in suburbs, leaving students in the Mounds View School District with almost no option but to drive or take the bus to school.
Car-dependent culture is evident on Mounds View High School’s campus. The two parking lots currently have 425 parking spots for students and 120 for staff. Meanwhile, there is only one bike rack at Mounds View. In fact, the average number of bikes on the rack from Sept. 7 to Sept. 22 was six bikes per day. This low number of bikes is not surprising.
Most roads today prioritize cars and trucks, as they are built on the assumption that everyone will drive. For example, “stroads’’ combine streets where pedestrians and businesses are located with high-speed, widelaned roads. Lexington Avenue is one such local example. Frequent stoplights, as well as exits and entrances onto the stroad, create congestion and make conditions dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.
Several roads students take to Mounds View, such as Snelling Avenue or Old Highway 10, lack safe sidewalks and bike lanes and have speed limits of at least 45 mph. Because of the dangerous conditions, some students who wish to bike to school on these routes feel like they cannot. “I don’t bike to school because I don’t really want to get hit on Old Highway 10,” said junior Henry Collins. “The other option is going down Lexington, and that’s a much longer bike ride, and at that point, I’d just
rather take the bus.”
Students who walk to school face similar safety issues. Freshman Aliyah Rogers, who lives across the street from Mounds View, feels overwhelmed when leaving the congested parking lot, especially because of the lack of crosswalks. “It can be really tough for us to cross the streets…because there’s huge buses, obviously that can’t always see us, and then there’s cars. Not only are there adults driving, but there’s also high schoolers and…I think sometimes it’s just really chaotic,” said Rogers.
Adding to the chaos is the recent construction on Lake Valentine Road. “I have to walk a little bit in the street to try and avoid [the construction], and also I take a different route home, so that’s even more into the construction, like on Snelling…and so that one’s the worst because then I have to cross the street twice and then cross it again. The traffic’s pretty busy
at the end of the day there,” said Victoria Farmer, a junior who walks 1.4 miles to and from school each day.
Besides creating congestion and unsafe walking and biking conditions, car-dependent development poses a threat to the environment. With over 100 million cars on the road each day, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted takes a toll on air quality and public health. Cars also create noise pollution and increase the need for road construction, which harms the environment in and of itself.
Car dependency also devalues other methods of transportation. Unlike commuters from countries with elaborate transportation systems, such as Japan or South Korea, only 55% of Americans even have access to public transportation, according to the American Public Transportation Association. This means the remaining 45% must
One of the main issues with the lack of transportation choices is that many people cannot afford to drive. Just learning how to drive is already very expensive. For example, Teens Inc. Driving School — a popular driving school in the Mounds View area — charges $295 for Driver’s Ed and upwards of $450 for behindthe-wheel lessons.
Cars themselves also require a great financial investment, not to mention the gas and maintenance fees that come with them. In such a car-dependent society, households who cannot afford to drive are put at a major disadvantage.
Whether the car will remain America’s primary vehicle or not, it is clear that the shift towards a car-dependent society has played a huge role in shaping America’s transportation culture.
WThe addition of crosswalks nity more bikeable, as students would feel safer crossing the road on bikes. “I would [bike], but I feel like, for me, it would be harder to [cross] the street to
ful, a fail-safe way to promote biking for students and make commuting safer would be to add bike lanes along the roads at Mounds View. “I think getting better bike paths from the other side of the old highway would be much better, especially [on] Lake Valentine Road… because then you could bike [on] them to Mounds View,” said Vincent Meyer, a junior who wishes he
sible is important, providing increased public transportation would also decrease people’s portation — including buses,
Although Allisen Merrill, English teacher, dreamed of teaching since her junior year of high school, she only began a few years ago. “I’m actually a second career teacher, so I did a lot before I became a teacher,” she said.
Prior to teaching, Merrill held a few different positions, working for companies such as Amazon and Wells Fargo. She even owned her own daycare for a while. More recently, Merrill worked at Waconia High School until budget cuts led to teacher layoffs. “They cut [funding] district-wide,” she said. “They cut like 40 positions.”
However, Merrill is grateful to now work for Mounds View, partly because it is closer to her home in Brooklyn Center. Besides the shorter commute, Merrill also appreciates the culture at Mounds View. “The staff is amazing. I absolutely love how happy all the staff are here; it’s such a positive vibe,” she said. “As far as how serious [Mounds View] takes things like the bullying policy and things like that, this is one of the best schools I’ve ever been at.”
Merrill has many passions outside of teaching as well. “I exercise a lot. I go to Burn Boot Camp, like, every single day,” she said, “and I absolutely love concerts.”
As for what she’s most looking forward to this school year, Merrill is excited to connect with her students and watch them grow in their reading and writing skills. “I unapologetically love English, and so I love seeing when kids start to love it, too.”
Unlike most of the staff additions this year, Sam Perry, science teacher, has already been teaching in the district for 10 years. In fact, he even taught physical science at Mounds View during the pandemic until he returned to Edgewood Middle School. “So the seniors know me, some of them,” he said, “but the other students in the school, freshmen through juniors, they don’t know me.”
Perry has always wanted to teach high school science, so when a position opened up for this school year, he was eager to apply. “I’m a big nerd, and with middle schoolers, it’s more about [the] surface level,” he said, “and with high school science, you can actually dive
This year, instead of teaching physical science, Perry is teaching biology, which is similar to the life science course he taught at
When he’s not teaching, Perry enjoys taking care of his own “hobby farm,” a small farm at his residence that he maintains for fun. “I’ve got goats, I have chickens, [and] I beekeep,” he said.
As someone who was involved in many activities during high school, Perry strongly advises students to get involved in school activities. “You’ll meet people,” he said. “You’ll learn a lot about yourself.”
Before joining the Mounds View community, Matthew Ervin worked with English language learners at Sunrise Elementary in Blaine. Ervin is continuing his passion for teaching as a new English Language teacher at Mounds View.
Ervin didn’t start with teaching. He started off working for nonprofit organizations, and while pursuing his master’s degree, he worked towards earning a teaching license. But focusing on teaching wasn’t a major shift for him. “I did nonprofits, but it felt like teaching because it was a lot of working with kids,” said Ervin.
Through his experiences, Ervin has discovered that teaching multilingual learners is a learning process for both his students and himself. “It was a lot of physical interaction, drawing, and using visuals… and trying to learn a little Vietnamese,” he said. Ervin highlights the fact that both he and the students were influenced by each other linguistically
Outside of teaching, Ervin enjoys sailing, playing tennis and pickleball. He is also an avid reader. “I love Harry Potter. I like mysteries. I think my favorite mystery author is Tana French. [Her books] have a touch of magical realism,” he said.
Ervin’s advice to students is to take advantage of opportunities to learn now. “My advice is to appreciate the opportunity to learn because when you get older, when you’re in your 30s and 40s, you suddenly want to take classes and you want to learn.”
Philip Schut is one of two additions to Mounds View’s business and finance department, and he is currently teaching Personal Finance, Accounting, and Personal and Business Law this semester.
Schut has worked as a business teacher since deciding that he wanted to teach during his sophomore year of college. Since then, he has taught at four other schools, the most recent being Stillwater High School. “I spent eight years teaching business and finance classes in Stillwater,” said Schut.
While he enjoyed teaching at Stillwater, Schut wanted to work closer to where he lives. “I loved it in Stillwater, but what I didn’t love was the commute,” he said. “I had heard really good things about the [Mounds View] district, and I wanted to be closer to home.”
So far, Schut appreciates the culture at Mounds View. “I love the community. I’ve been impressed with students,” he said. “Everybody seems pretty motivated, and they seem to want to learn, which is cool.”
Schut is already very involved with the Mounds View community, serving as an advisor of three after-school activities. “I’m helping out with three different clubs: Personal Finance Decathlon, and then Start-Up and Mock Trial,” he said.
Outside of teaching, Schut enjoys traveling, sports and the outdoors. “My wife and I love traveling, so we take at least one trip a year,” he said. “I love traveling. I love hiking. I love kayaking.”
To students, Schut recommends remembering one thing: You matter. “[During] good days, remember: You matter. [During] bad days, remember: You matter,” he said. “People care about you.”
While most students will remember Chad Schlosser, math teacher, from when he student taught at Mounds View last year, this school year marks his first official year of teaching.
Prior to teaching, Schlosser worked for Mercer, an actuarial consulting firm. “Originally, when I got out of school, I wanted to be an actuary and go into the actuarial science field,” he said. Actuaries collect and analyze data to measure risk, commonly for insurance purposes.
Initially, Schlosser believed that becoming an actuary would be a good way to incorporate his love for math into his work. “In college, I wasn’t totally set on what I wanted to do for sure. I knew I wanted to do something with math because I like math a lot, [and] I’d heard things about the actuary field that sounded interesting.”
However, after a few years of working in the field, Schlosser realized that becoming an actuary was not the right career path for him. “I found that I spent a lot of time on my computer during the day, barely talking to people, just in a little cubicle in an office,” he said.
Schlosser is excited to remain at Mounds View, where he is teaching AP Statistics. “Since I did a lot of stats last year, this will be my second time going through a lot of it,” he said, “so I’m trying to find out what I can change to make things more fun.”
Besides teaching, Schlosser enjoys all things sports-related. “I really like sports. I watch a lot of football during football season, and during basketball season, I watch a lot of basketball,” he said. Schlosser played basketball in college and continues to play pickup in the mornings at Stillwater High School.
s fall sports began at Mounds View, the football and soccer teams were unable to play at Mustang Stadium. Over the last eight years, the plastic pellets covering the field deteriorated. “The rubber infill was melting and sticking to our cleats,” said senior football player Ethan Bateman. “After just 10 minutes of use on the field in the summer, you could feel yourself sticking to the field because of it.”
For the first month of the
While the teams were unable to play home games at Mustang Stadium, Senior Stable ensured school spirit remained high. “This year, we have had extremely high attendance for students at games. It was inconvenient having to drive to Spring Lake Park, but students still pulled through and showed up,” said senior Annika Schramm.
fall sports season, athletes were unable to play at their home stadium, so games and practices were moved to different locations, such as Bethel University, University of Northwestern, Spring Lake Park, St. Louis Park and the National Sports Center.
Many players noticed high energy from fans as well. “Seeing the student section at every varsity game leads me to believe that people are as passionate about school spirit as they ever have been,” said Bateman. “When we went to WBL, the student section was great,” added senior football player Sean Peterson.
Although some were disappointed to learn the season would have to start without the stadium, it was fixed in time for Mounds View’s homecoming football game, which was positive news for both the players
and fans. “I was stoked when I heard we could use the stadium field again,” said Bateman. “I do personally prefer the MV home stadium as it is way less of a hassle to get to and just feels more familiar in general.”
Senior football player Gabriel Lundgren explained how being back in their home sta-
dium has been a positive experience. “Practicing on the new field has made a huge difference in the attitudes of the guys and coaches,” he said.
While the fall season started with an unexpected setback, the strong turnout of students at games has shown Mounds View school spirit remains high. Lun-
dgren even believes the experience brought the team closer together. “It brought us together as a team because we realized that we were still a team no matter where we played our [...] games,” he said.
ne team of 16 girls has shown their dedication to dancing, diversity and growth. Prior to performing at the homecoming pep fest, the Mounds View Majorettes worked diligently to perfect their choreography and uplift
each other in the process.
A significant aspect of the Majorettes is their appreciation for diverse cultures, which is evident in their dance routines.
“We’re all diverse; we all have different upbringings and cultures, but we all come together and contribute. Our dances are more cultural,” said junior Blessing Nyangena. This cul-
tural infusion is what sets the Majorettes apart; they actively embrace various cultures by incorporating songs in their routines from different languages and cultures. For example, this year, they danced to the Spanish song “Danza Kuduro” and the Korean pop song “Bouncy.”
Many girls on the Majorettes share this sentiment. “All the cultural differences that we have, we’re gonna put them [together] and express all the different cultures that we have at Mounds View,” said senior Rehema Gimbi. She believes the Majorettes offer a unique side of dance that distinguishes them from other Mounds View
activities.
While the Majorettes are known for performing at the pep fest every year, one of their goals this season is to perform at more events. “We kind of want to branch off into basketball games, and we kind of want the majorettes to grow bigger,” said Nyangena.
Executing an engaging performance is a top priority for the Majorettes, and they believe that only comes with the collective support of all team members. “I think we did a good job in teaching the girls about what real friendship and teamwork means, and, therefore, practices were always some sort of bonding moments,” said junior Stephanie Suarez.
Each girl has their own reason for joining the Majorettes. Nyangena wanted to confront her introverted nature and find a sense of connection with girls similar to herself. “I was
already in love with dancing. I just didn’t know how to get into a dance group. But when I saw majorettes, I was like, ‘Oh my god, that looks like a cool group to join,’” she said.
Through dance practices, the Majorettes have fostered a spirit of support, cultural exchange and inclusivity. “We wanted to be a sisterhood [and] have a sisterhood feeling. It’s not just dancing, we’re all sisters together,” said Nyangena.
Gloria Liu SPORTS AND DEBATES EDITORPHOTO | GoLawLye Yang PHOTO | Gloria Liu
“Practicing on the new field has made a huge difference in the attitudes of the guys and coaches.”
Gabe Lundgren, ‘24
“I do personally prefer the MV home stadium as it is way less of a hassle to get to and just feels more familiar in general.”
Ethan Bateman, ‘24MUSTANG STUDENT SECTION travels to Spring Lake Park for the home football game against Farmington on Aug. 31.
“It’s not just dancing, we’re all sisters together.”
Blessing Nyagena , ‘25
First two students to complete all puzzles and DM a picture to @mvviewer on Instagram win a free flavored lemonade from Mustang Mocha.
Across students can still use their phones in used to own their own daycare deteriorated on
Majorettes
Down
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use their phones in school
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