Tri-Color Times 2017-10

Page 1

Granger high school

Tri-Color Times An open forum for student opinion and expression

TRICOLORTIMES.COM

OCTOBER 2017 LX-II

New officer makes Lancers consider role of police at school By Mireya Ruiz THE NEW school year brought new things. While many students received new outfits, school supplies, and were enrolled in new classes; the school also added a new police officer. Last year, there were only two. Now, Granger has added just one new member to their team. Officer Parks has been working at Granger High School since the new school year started. He and his fellow coworkers have been noticed around campus during lunches and at school events. “There appears to be a lot more cops actually on campus. Last year, it didn’t seem like there were so many. Now, it’s like everywhere I look, there’s usually at least two in the area,” Milagros Cuevas (10) said. Others haven’t really noticed

that there are more officers on campus. It could be because they just don’t notice or the officers had not been in that specific area. “I didn’t notice any more officers than the ones that were here last year,” Kat Henry (10) said. Attentive students have been wondering why there are more officers than the previous year. Some have thought that a certain incident lead to it and others just thought that there was too much violence last year. “Students attending here need to have a great place to further their education while having a sense of safety,” Mr. Beck said. The officers feel the same way. “My main priority is having a safe school. If we don’t have a safe school, then I’m not doing my job right,” Officer Johnson said. Also, learning to work around

police officers can be beneficial for the future. Social media has tilted toward a specific image of officers, so interacting with them informally can help create a better sense of what connects citizens and students to police officers. “Having the cops here helps students work with them. It’s 95% about having cops here to building trust, so part of the reason for having them here helps structure the environment,” Officer Johnson said. In addition, officers help the environment in various ways. “By just having the cops on campus, it can make students not do certain things,” Mr. Beck said. Some Lancers agree with Mr. Beck. “Since Granger is a big school and different types of students go here, having cops visible can decrease the amount of bad

decisions. For example, someone could have an intention of doing something bad, but if they see the cops, then they’ll most likely not do it,” Henry said. That said, social media has impacted how others may think of authority figures. “Tons of people already think of cops a certain way. We’re not all the same. Get to know me— me as an individual. All of the officers aren’t all the same. Just get to know us before judging us,” Officer Parks said. Since police officers help maintain order at Granger, they’ll stay for the entire school year. “As far as we were informed, we’ll keep the same amount of cops here until at least the end of the school year. We don’t know if there will be more next year,” Officer Johnson said.

Officers Christensen and Parks keep Granger High safe while building relationships with students and faculty.

Admin claims lanyards promote safety and school spirit By Yesenia Leon THIS YEAR Granger High School has introduced a new way to identify students: IDs and Lanyards. ID lanyards are exactly what it sounds like, a lanyard with a ID on it. Students were given their IDs as soon as they took their picture on Picture Day, which was two weeks after school started. Some people love the idea of them, while others have very mixed feelings about them. One of the many people who loved the idea of them was the assistant principal, Mr. Beck. “I think it’s an amazing idea. It allows us, as administrators, to identify kids easier. In another respect, it shows a sense of school pride,” Mr. Beck said. Students weren’t so fond of the idea especially on the freshman and sophomores because the administration is enforcing it more upon them. “I feel like it’s really unfair. I feel like we are mature

and responsible as any junior or senior,” Angel Manriquez (9) said. Many students feel the same way as Manriquez. They feel like they don’t necessarily need an ID badge for them to be identified. On the other hand, some people believe that the administration should enforce it just on the freshman. They are fresh out of junior high and many of them still have the junior high mind-set. It will take them a couple months for them to shift their mind-set. “I feel like the freshman need it more than anyone because that’s who causes most of the trouble,” Solitude Moffit (10) said. Many people, including the administration, believe that the ID Lanyards will help take the school down a better and safer path. “I think the lanyards are a good idea. It helps us see who belongs here and who doesn’t. Last year, we had many people come in who didn’t belong here cause us some trouble like getting in-

volved in fights or coming in during lunch,” Steve Christiansen, a police officer, said. Many people would agree with Christiansen’s opinion. It makes it harder for outsiders to come into the school and cause trouble, which makes it a safer environment for students who won’t feel threatened by trespassers. Despite the controversy, the lanyards are supposed to be there to help and protect Lancers. Simple actions like these might make

a world of a difference, even though many people would disagree and find lanyards useless. Everyone has the right to be able to learn and get an education at the school and feel safe while doing so. Safety may not be the only positive thing about this policy. Many people would agree that it also shows a sense of school spirit. It gives students a chance to take pride in Granger and they should feel glad to be attending such a great school.

Solitude Moffit thinks that freshman need lanyards more than other classes.

OCR Time

By Andrew Tippetts ON CAMPUS Reassignment (OCR) is a new Freshman and Sophomore attendance policy. At the moment the policy is only in effect for freshman, but sophomores will soon be affected, too. According to many freshman students, they believe that this is doing a really good job by helping them get to class. Many people don’t agree that the school is picking on freshmen and actually think that it is a super idea. One freshman with amazing attendance agrees. “I think it’s going to have a good impact and help lots of kids get back on track with school and attendance,” Jacob Baird (9) said. As the year progresses, many students get comfortable about not showing up or messing up in classes, which makes it harder for the administration to crack down on bad behavior. OCR makes this a bit easier by helping the administration find students coming in late and punish them for doing so. Teachers are just as with it as the students are. With students missing from classes or coming in late, the policy with help them get to class, but student will miss an hour from class because they were sent to OCR. “I am hoping that it will stop the tardiness and absences by punishing students for not coming to class,” Ms. Neibaur said. Administrators and hall monitors agree that lunches and 1st periods are some prime pressure points for preventing tardiness, which turns this policy into a whole other story. “Freshman are often a testing ground for new things like this, then we move sophomores if its effective,” Mr. Anderson said. He also talked about the grace period that many students had to get to class even when Lancers are late. Working with students like this makes administrators happier and makes them feel like they are really making a difference. This new policy sends students who are late to the lecture hall as a consequence. The tracker in control of the students was Mr. Gaspar. He was sitting in the back watching the students making sure they were not playing on their phones, doing their work, talking, sleeping, or anything else along those lines. This is a quiet time for students to reflect on their behavior. He definitely enforced the rules and explained consequences. Students not learning that hour could cause a problem for grades as well as attendance, but teachers are not too upset. In the end, Mr. Anderson’s initial data suggested that freshmen tardies have gone down by 40% while attendance is better than last year.

Want more Granger High School news? Check articles at tricolortimes.com or add us on twitter.com/tricolortimes.


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