By RACHEL SCHREIBSTEIN and LEETAL PREZELMAYER
Jericho High School recently implemented a new school policy that prohibits parents and others from dropping off items for students in the attendance office. According to principal Ms. Rosenberg, the three main reasons for this policy change are to keep the school safe, to maintain confidentiality, and to teach students responsibility.
The new policy was brought up at a Shared Decision Making committee which incorporates students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Members of the committee disliked how chaotic the attendance office had become with coffee, lunch, and sports equipment being dropped off daily, and therefore suggested this modification.
Attendance office secretary Ms. Del Piano believes that the policy was a necessary change because of the world we live in. At first, she didn’t think about her safety in the office as an issue, but “as more tragedies occurred it was a topic that became more relevant.” Before the change was made, parents were in and out of the attendance office daily to drop off items for their kids. Now, Ms. Del Piano finds that there are about 50 to 60 fewer people in the office each day which helps the staff complete their work with fewer distractions and interruptions.
Students who typically had their parents drop off items for them are opposed to this new change. Sophomore Tatum W. said, “I think it’s kind of unfair because some people sometimes forget to take food, and others are used to having their parents drop off hot meals for them.” Freshman Samantha M. agrees. She said that her parents would drop off food for her very frequently whenever she forgot to take something from home. In addition, sophomore Sebastian M. believes that having food dropped off is a better alternative to school lunch. “Unfortunately, most kids don’t like the food here, so a way to get out of eating the food here is getting lunch dropped off,” he said. Aside from food, students also had sports equipment and schoolwork dropped off when they left it at home. Tatum W. added, “During soccer season my mom would drop off my equipment when I forgot it.”
On the other hand, these students find that the policy change can also be beneficial to our school’s safety. Even though Samantha M. did have food dropped off, she finds the new policy is important “because random people can’t come in anymore.” In addition, Tatum W. pointed out that the new policy prevents people from coming in who may be unrecognizable to staff and students.
Despite this new policy change, parents have still made attempts to bring in items for their children, even dropping items off in the middle school which still allows drop-offs for its students. This practice is prohibited for high school students and is strongly discouraged by High School staff.
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