The halls at least on the second floor are calmer, there is a bathroom system in place, yet the usual suspects are up to their same old behavior leading many to believe that discipline is on pause rather than creating change. Leaving many students questioning whether people actually get held accountable.
Over time that pattern sends a clear message about accountability. Students at UACHS are not held accountable enough for their actions which is weakening students’ respect for the honor code.
While enforcing policies consistently can be difficult for administrators, inconsistency does more harm than good.
A great example of students not being held accountable are uniforms. Over the years, uniform policies have become extremely lenient. Teachers are expected to take time out of a lesson to continuously address uniforms, but in order to keep compliant students lose class time.
Administrators seem to only enforce the rules in two instances: when the state is coming or at the beginning of the year for two weeks and then all is forgotten. You see girls with Ed Hardy sweat suits walking right past administration and not being told anything and you will see boys in grey sweatpants and white tees; no one dares tell them anything.
Substitute teacher, Rena Singh, feels that not everyone sees a penalty for not following the rules.
“I feel the students are not held accountable and don’t suffer any consequences,” said Singh. “I’ve seen students who come in out of uniform, and they get reprimanded, yet there are other students who are out of uniform every single day, and they are still enjoying their normal day to day routine without being reprimanded.”
ISS was eliminated at the end of last school year in order to implement more reformative programs like LEAD Lunch.
The real question here is not whether or not there are consequences, the question is are the right people seeing consequences? When rules are only applied sometimes to certain people, they stop feeling like rules and start feeling optional. This not only affects the students who do not follow the rules, it also discourages those who do follow them.
Why should students continue to respect the honor code when other students continue to disrespect it without consequence? If UACHS truly wants to build a community of respect, responsibility, integrity, and accountability there must be consistent policies and consequences for everyone.
