Opinions •••
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THE STANDARD | October-November 2013
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CLAYTON MARSH Acting Editor-in-Chief THOMAS RISINGER Lead News Editor CHARLOTTE YOUNG News Editor IAN SCOVILLE Opinions Editor MINA OMAR Lead Features Editor ZACK LONGBOY Features Editor KATE KENNEDY Culture Editor GABRIEL RUIMY Culture Editor NIKOLAI BIRCH Sports Editor JAMES MALIN Sports Editor JESSICA HAGHANI Photo Editor ALEX PABARCIUS Design Editor WILLIAM MUOIO Online Editor SVENA BHASIN Copy Editor FARES CHEHABI HAMISH STEPHENSON
STAFF WRITERS Noah Abrams. Lynn Albright, Leila Ben Halim, William Brummette, Michael Carpenter, Lev Cohen, Dana Daly, Yarra Elmasry, Laura Galligan, Alexandra Harrington, Maya Jotwani, Sebastian Mayr, Ankit Mehra, Juliette Pope, Max Roth, Varun Sarup, Nadia Sawiris, Livy Scott, Tyler Skow, Maria Tavierne
CARTOON By caroline tisdale
Calling for a revised disciplinary process In an effort to be transparent, we would like to state the most rudimentary facts. Two members of our editorial board were, in addition to a multitude of other behavioral repercussions, suspended from their editorships on The Standard for differing lengths of time. The administration believes these punishments are justified because of the higher standards ascribed to leaders. We agree with the principle – albeit, with reservations. However, the process itself was a shocking, damning indictment of the school’s disciplinary procedures. Firstly, this is a quintessential example of a perpetual, overarching theme – one that remains as one of ASL’s most elementary problems: The administration does not listen enough to the students. We can confirm through sources with direct knowledge of the situation that the SFDB did not recommend any sort of suspension from The Standard for either member of our editorial board. Was the SFDB’s suggested punishment deemed ineffective? Or, more importantly, is the SFDB more superficial as a governing body than one that has the power to implement any substantive changes? It is a disturbing question, but a valid one. Coming from students in positions of power, the SFDB’s recommendation would be the most empathetic recommendation possible – yet it was disregarded. Furthermore, the treatment of the students during the process is an issue of concern. One editorial board member felt so alienated by the High School that he was forced to turn to a Middle School counselor for guidance. This is an example of the administration simply taking the wrong approach. The administration’s job is to help us – to support us in our most dire and bleakest of times. Rather, they victimized these students – making them feel powerless, reducing them to public shame and private despair. The school dragged its heels for two weeks before letting these
students know their punishments. In the meantime, they were threatened with expulsion. They had their character and integrity questioned, as unfair, baseless and deeply offensive accusations were leveled against them. On the topic of public shame, the transparency of the entire process was utterly and irrefutably unprofessional. By suspending these students from their public roles, the school has failed in one of its most basic disciplinary objectives – to keep punishments confidential. However, the administration failed to demonstrate transparency where it was most needed: One student’s parents were not informed of the student’s suspension until one day into the punishment. This process disregarded the SFDB’s opinion and pitted the administration against the students rather than supporting them. In addition to being transparent in all the wrong ways, this process brought completely uninvolved students into the punishment. The administration has failed to give any consideration of the ramifications that such punishments will have on people and programs involved in the punishment. Perhaps the administration did take these into account, in which case, all the worse. Acknowledging and continuing to act is more flawed than disregarding these repercussions in the first place. In essence, this outside of school offense has absolutely nothing to do with The Standard, yet we are punished by the loss of their presence. We are unable to see the logic in this. In light of this, we propose the implementation of an appeal process. Students should be able to contest their punishment fairly and systematically when fallacies like this occur. Hopefully, we will see disciplinary processes like these – ones that disregard the SFDB’s opinion, reduce the students to public shame and punish uninvolved parties – a problem of the past.
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Yarra Elmasry, Maya Jotwani, Alex Liederman, Kiran Rajguru, Trilok Sadarangani, Tania Veltchev CARTOONISTS Daniela Al-Saleh, Caroline Tisdale Shannon Miller Adviser MISSION STATEMENT The Standard staff and adviser are dedicated to creating an open forum that strives to promote productive dialogue within the School community by publishing exemplary student news media according to the strictest standards of journalistic integrity. CONTENT The Standard covers news related, but not limited, to the School community. Issues-driven coverage that aims to explore ideas, themes, concepts, trends and recent developments beyond the campus that are relevant to members of the community are also included. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send submissions to the journalism lab, room O-329, or to the_standard@asl.org. These must adhere to the same set of ethical guidelines that all staff content is held to, and will only be published at the discretion of the editorial board and the adviser. The Standard retains the right to edit letters for length and AP/ Standard style. All letters must be signed in order to be considered for publication. EDITORIALS Articles published without a byline and presented in the same location issue-to-issue represent the majority opinion of the editorial board. They are unsigned. COLUMNS Articles with a byline and a photo of the author in the Opinions section of the newspaper are opinions articles. They represent the view of the writer only, and not necessarily the staff of the newspaper or any other individual or group in the community. ENGAGEMENT WITH READERSHIP The Standard encourages all readers to submit their thoughts through letters to the editor, guest columns, online comments, and story ideas. Contact the appropriate section editor(s) for submissions. ONLINE VIEWING The Standard can be viewed online at standard.asl.org.The Standard can also be viewed in PDF format on the High School page of the ASL website, www.asl.org. Printed by Mortons Print Limited, 01507 523456