By Ayah Hassan, Staff Writer
We started off this year with a few new rules here at River Hill. As a result of recent vandalisms occurring on school property, River Hill will be implementing its newest rule starting April 1, 2024. A new system will be implemented requiring staff escorts any time students leave their classroom while class is in session. While this may not be the most popular way to prevent future vandalisms, the administration thinks that it will be effective.
Students will be required to have a staff escort for trips to the bathroom, the water fountain, the counselor’s office, and their cars during school hours. Although teachers would need to escort students to the bathroom, they are not required to follow students into the bathroom unless a student is under probation due to behavioral issues.
As the word spreads, students have been very vocal about this rule. Sophomore Charlie Bishop comments, “I don’t know if that’s something I’m super comfortable with.” Various students have shared similar concerns. Junior Rachel Bowers agrees, saying that “it’s an invasion of privacy.” While some students are more concerned about compromising their privacy, others feel that the main issue with this rule is the time wasted. Junior Aliyah Ally explains, “It affects the other students in the class who will have to wait for the teacher to come back.” She adds to this, saying that “in general it wastes time.” This is a big concern that has been brought up on numerous occasions. How will teachers balance time teaching with time spent escorting students around school, especially if multiple students need to leave during one class period.
While many find this rule to be inconvenient or unreasonable, others, like senior Divya Kumar, see positives to it. She reflects that it will “give staff a break in the day.” Another student, sophomore Barry Bumble contributes saying that he is “very indecisive when it comes to choosing which water fountain to drink from.” A teacher escort would help him decide which one to choose and help avoid wasting an excessive amount of class time.
Walking with teachers to the bathroom gives students a chance to bond with their teachers and even gives them a person to talk to while they’re using the bathroom.
“I get bored easily.” Says freshman Julia Jones. “I get scared to go to the bathroom when there isn’t someone else there to talk to me from outside the stall.” Instead of using the bathroom in silence, students get to have meaningful conversations with their teachers and talk about things other than assignments or coursework. Teachers only get to see their students for 50 minutes a day, and when students leave class to go to the bathroom, some of that time is lost.
This development has its pros and cons, and people’s opinions on it vary.At the end of the day, student opinion is irrelevant. The administration decides what rules to implement and they would never implement a rule like this! APRIL FOOLS!!