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St. Louis Park Senior High School 6425 West 33rd Street St. Louis Park, MN 55426 .*#9!)'#$':7#.(#| Kelsey Reid A+$+;#$;'.*#9!)'| Katie Caron :!",'.*#9!)% | Scott Foltz, Ben Kahn & Charlie Shapiro *.%#;$'.*#9!)%'| Sendrea Best & Taylor Delaney "7!9!'.*#9!)% | Paris Delaney & Alex Kersten $.8%'.*#9!)'| Elena Potek %90*.$9'B#(.'.*#9!)%'| Michael Tuschman & Elana Vlodaver (.+90).%''.*#9!)' | Robbie Seltzer-Schultz #$F*."97'.*#9!)'| Nico Johnson %"!)9%'.*#9!) | Abby Bongaarts !"#$#!$%'.*#9!) | Josh Crandell .$9.)9+#$A.$9'.*#9!) | Mara Olson 8./'.*#9!)'| Marcus Eeman %9+(( | Spencer Butler, Michael Cork, Sam Dawson, Cianna Edwards, Sofia Gonzalez, Katie Johns, Brandon Klugman, Sonia Robiner, Abrar Salad, Hannah Sieff, Abi Tupa, Sam Vinitsky, Emma Vitale /0%#$.%%'A+$+;.)'| Art Elmer ")#$:#"+B'| Robert Metz
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-./%*0(1"(%)*&0#)2$.&1+(#%*3&$2*4#&5)$%4%+0 , or most students, lunch is the most valuable time in their day, which explains why current discord over the new lunch policies is expected and understandable. Expected, because many students already feel their privileges threatened at school, and any further loss of these feels like one step too far. And understandable, because barring students from leaving the cafeteria during lunch rightly brings to mind a prison-like atmosphere. Even so, moving forward on new lunch policies requires all sides, students and administration included, to step back and reconsider. The administration was justified in making changes from last semester when too many students used lunchtime as an excuse to miss class and evade hall monitors. The staff of this newspaper, however, remains unconvinced that last semester’s problems required limiting all students’ rights, instead of just targeting the specific offenders. For this reason, the administration should evaluate before the end of the quarter whether all of the new lunch policies –
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including four lunches and no passes – are doing more help than harm. We hope with student and teacher feedback, as well as their own reevaluation, the administration can arrive at a solution that imposes less on all students’ freedom and still keeps truancy manageable. At the same time, students should use this quarter to prove they deserve the
art | Katie Johns
lunch privileges they value. By students showing they can behave responsibly, the administration will not feel the need to impose tougher restrictions. We believe the current debate over lunch policy changes is one worth having, but as with any contentious debate, a deep breath goes a long way in making sure change can happen right.
+*G#%.) | Lori Keekley
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"0/B#:+9#!$'"!B#:#.% The Echo is the official studentproduced newspaper of St. Louis Park Senior High School. It is published triweekly for the school’s students, staff and community. The Echo has been established as an open forum for student expression. The Echo will not be reviewed by school administrators prior to distribution, and the adviser will not act as a censor. Content represents views of the student staff and not school officials. The Echo will work to avoid bias and/or favoritism. We will strive to make our coverage and content meaningful and interesting to all our readers. We will make every effort to avoid printing libel, obscenities, innuendo and material that threatens to disrupt the learning process or is an invasion of privacy. We will avoid electronic manipulation that alters the truth of a photograph. Staff editorials represent the opinion of the editorial board arrived at by discussion and will not be bylined. Bylined articles are the opinion of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Echo staff or administration as a whole. The Echo welcomes reader input. Letters to the editor and suggestions may be e-mailed to slpecho@gmail.com or submitted in room C275. Letters must be signed and should be no longer than 250 words. E-mailed letters must be verified prior to publication. We will not necessarily publish all letters received and reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Anonymous letters wherein the Echo does not know the identity of the writer will not be printed. Advertisements will be sought from local businesses. We maintain the right to reject any ads we believe to be false, misleading, inappropriate or harmful. The Echo does not necessarily endorse the products or services offered in these advertisements.
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NSPA All-American and Hall of Fame member; 2010 NSPA National Pacemaker Award Winner, 2007 Pacemaker Award Finalist; JEM All-State; CSPA Gold Medalist; 2006 Gold Crown Winner.
nize the immediate consequences characters in “Skins” experience following their decisions. Unlike “Gossip Girl” and “Jersey Shore,” “Skins” doesn’t condone irresponsible behavior. Critics overlook the show’s ability to capture the Sofia Gonzalez ! staff writer truth about adolescence. Throughout the second episode of “Skins” hough issues regarding teens having sex and doing drugs have come into focus on the character Tea questions her sexuality and MTV’s highly anticipated show, “Skins,” struggles between pursuing her own instinct or its true intent is to reflect the lives of teens in a her family’s views. Though not every teen questions his or her sexuality, most are still discoverstraightforward way. Originally broadcast in the U.K., the Ameri- ing who they are and who they aspire to be. Whether parents like it or not, teens will can version of “Skins” has generated criticism always struggle with issues relatfrom the Parents Television Couning to self-identity, mental health, cil (PTC) and has lost advertise<#+(#+1&5"1+*(0& drug and alcohol use and sexualments from Subway, and Foot $%3+&%(&)1&*)(=& ity. Locker, among several other com(++*0&9%$$&"$9">0& Although “Skins” isn’t 100 panies. 0(12??$+&9%(#& percent accurate, it ultimately reThe PTC is an organization %002+0&1+$"(%*?& flects the insecurities, hopes, and dedicated to informing parents of ()&0+$:@%.+*(%(>=& dilemmas teens face from day to the appropriateness of TV shows. /+*("$&#+"$(#=& day. Teenagers even write porThey recently deemed “Skins” the .12?&"*.&"$4)#)$& tions of the show in order to en“most dangerous program that 20+&"*.&0+A2"$%(>B sure its authenticity. has ever been foisted on your chilIf the PTC turned its energy dren.” toward encouraging discussion Following the Jan. 17 premier of the series, the PTC complained about sexu- between parents and their children regarding al promiscuity and illegal substance use in the the problems characters face in “Skins” instead show and urged Congress to open an investiga- of simply calling the show “dangerous,” teens tion regarding child pornography and exploita- would be less likely to distance themselves from tion of the underage actors in “Skins.” Critics of their parents and make impulsive decisions. “Skins” is so honest, in fact, if a parent de“Skins” claim the show’s material will provoke teens to imitate the behaviors of the characters. cided to watch a single episode, they might come However, when these critics only pay attention closer to understanding some possible aspects of to the drugs, alcohol and sex, they fail to recog- high school life.
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To tiger moms. I prefer cougars.
To asbestos. Love wasn’t the only thing in the air on Valentine’s Day.
To the new lunch system. This oriole will never be caged.
N.J., B.K., B.K.
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The lead story in the Dec. 13 issue of the Echo was about the equity differences noted around the high school from the Equity Walk in November. Two issues I had with the story: 1. The picture on the front page that went with the story showed two science classes. The objective was to show that there were no students of color in the IB class and many in the regular science class. My issue is not with the picture, but with gender. Most of the students in the IB class were boys. Why isn’t anyone upset about that? I am. We have so many smart girl students – why aren’t more of them in the IB science and math classes? Or at least in the picture.
2. The other issue is that I don’t think the article was balanced on the progress we have made at the high school. Five years ago there were very few students of color taking AP or IB classes. Today there are over 60 students taking over 100 classes. Your article makes headlines, but while there is still much progress to be made, our students and administration deserve credit for the progress achieved. Should that have at least been mentioned? Other than that I thought it was a great story. Keep up the wonderful work the Echo staff is doing. Bruce Richardson Park School Board director