By ARABELLA BALGOBIND, MADISON GRADY and ZAARA MALIK
When graduating from Jericho Middle School, students are not only introduced to a new part of the campus when they join Jericho High School but to a new set of school rules as well that can be found in the Jericho High School Student Handbook.
During grade-level meetings, administrators aim to highlight important policies that students come into contact with daily. Jericho High School’s Assistant Principal Dr. Behr said, “We like to make sure that our students are aware of the policies they interact with from day to day.”
She explained that common policies, such as the electronics policy that states electronics are able to be confiscated by an administrator and returned to a student by a parent, are reviewed in classrooms by teachers at the beginning of the year. But when other policies are not observed by students, administrators will talk to those students on an individual basis. The main priority of the administration is to help those students understand policies while finding ways to support them. She added, “We reinforce at the classroom level and then deal with any situations on an individual basis because we want to make sure that people feel supported and respected.”
According to Dr. Behr, “Upperclassmen are more likely to be aware of handbook policies than underclassmen because they have more experience with school policies.”
However when asked about handbook policies, senior Hasan S. responded, “We have a handbook?”
Students are not the only ones without full knowledge of the student handbook contents. Teachers are also unaware. Ms. Drayer said, “I probably couldn’t quote you the rules, which means that my awareness is what I think I know, not what I really know.”
“A lot of our handbook is just silent norms,” adds social studies teacher, Ms. Drayer.
Students share a similar experience. Junior Chloe Z. said, “I know there is a student handbook, however, I’ve never been presented the whole thing. I know I’ve seen snippets of it.”
Science teacher Ms. Ciasulli explained that the lack of awareness of the student handbook has a lot to do with the positive behavioral values students share at Jericho High School. According to Ms. Ciasulli, these values are heavily influenced by students’ families. She said, “Your family unit has instilled in you since you were little that school is important.” Therefore, the majority of Jericho students rarely come into contact with their student handbook since they don’t violate any rules, hence many students’ lack of awareness.
AP Biology teacher Ms. Ciasulli believes that the awareness of school rules correlates with students behavioral values.
Many members of the Jericho community believe they have an understanding of the school policies, but without thorough exposure to the student handbook, there is no certainty that their ideas accurately reflect the rules.