Throughout the years, the regulations at LASA have changed gradually. However, this year, there have been larger changes regarding the administration’s rules and expectations. Examples of these changes include stricter phone policies in the hallways and classrooms, thorough regulation of student IDs, especially when entering the building in the morning, and increased monitoring regarding hallwalking.
For students who have been at LASA for several years, like junior Mia Sledge, it is important for them to remind themselves of the new regulations to set an example for underclassmen. However, according to Sledge, this can be difficult as the new policies sometimes feel bothersome.
“We barely used our IDs [last year], at least that was my experience,” Sledge said. “We had more freedom in bathroom breaks and stuff like being able to take phones out and not needing IDs. Freshman year, we barely even had hall passes.”
Though Sledge finds following some of the new rules to be tedious, she understands the importance behind implementing them. With school violence and intruders being a constant presence in the news, she believes that many of these rules are necessary to maintain the safety of the student body and faculty. However, there are still some rules that feel pointless to her.
“I mean, they [the rules] are kind of warranted because of the danger schools are in. The IDs [make sense],” Sledge said. “However, I think it’s not warranted to make sure only seniors are leaving during lunch because anyone with a license should be able to go. Also, I don’t really think no phones outside the classroom or no clubs on Friday is warranted. No clubs on Friday is just a weird and random [rule].”
According to Principal Stacia Crescenzi, freeing up Friday lunches is meant to allow teachers who sponsor clubs to use that time to either socialize or plan lessons. Sledge feels that the old rules were easier to follow. There were less conditions and specifications involved, which she said was preferred.
“I felt pretty good about them because they weren’t strict, so there weren’t as many things we needed to remember to bring or leave behind whenever we left class,” Sledge said. “It would depend on the rule. I think asking for IDs is a pretty fine way to enforce it.”
Junior Leo De Los Santos believes the rules have many additional beneficial effects than safety, such as teaching discipline to students. While De Los Santos believes the new rules have gotten much stricter from last year, they don’t interfere with his day-to-day life.
“The rules are honestly not that bad,” De Los Santos said. “I think it’s not that big of a deal but you know, it’s definitely different. I do wish juniors could leave during school to get lunch. The IDs aren’t that bad because I can just carry it in my pocket. ”
The stricter policies surrounding IDs are in accordance with the rise of gun violence in schools. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, there have been at least 102 incidents of gunfire in schools in 2023. Senior Anya Ruttala recognizes this concern and the need for extra precautions.
“For IDs, I think the administrators are just worried about safety with our political climate in America, and the fact that everyone is scared to go to school in this country,” Ruttala said. “It’s just to put an extra safety precaution. They’re weird about leaving the parking lot too; you have to have your ID to leave, especially because you have to be a senior to park there.”
However, Ruttala believes that stricter rules can sometimes have the opposite effect of reassuring students as they can bring the realities of the dangers of school into the forefront of students’ minds. She believes that a student’s comfort should be taken into consideration when enforcing these rules.
“I think if you talk to students, you’ll realize it is more important to make them feel like they’re going to a safe school without feeling uncomfortable,” said Ruttala. “I feel like having an ID everywhere is just extra. The parking rules are weird too, like I get parking in the lot only if you’re a senior, but leaving the lot and having IDs is just making people’s lives harder without enforcing the [safety] rules that they want to enforce.”
Ruttala believes that there are more important issues to be worrying about if the school wants to focus on student safety and comfort. She also believes that the current regulations can be enforced differently to accomplish the same goal while allowing students to maintain low stress levels.
“I think there’s more pressing issues, like we have asbestos in our school, we have people moving bricks around the parking lot and blocking our cars and nobody knows [who it is],” said Ruttala. “I think there are more urgent issues that they need to be dealing with, and safety concerns could be gone about being addressed in a different way.”
