Beware Of The Red Room

Hailey Magasark and Nyla Mcdowell

At the beginning of the school year, a new attendance policy was introduced for the students of Lake Shore. Now, the Red Room is being introduced. 

This policy was created as a result of students being irresponsible with their attendance, by either being late without a verified reason or not showing up at all. 

Discipline will also take action in this location. The Red Room is located east of the front office, in the main hall of the building. Students typically will be escorted with warning, or invited via private slip, depending on the situation. 

Assistant Principal, Dr. Todd Stevens said, “Lunch and after-school detentions were in the cafeteria, but this way it’s not as public.” 

The Red Room allows students to keep their detentions to themselves without having others knowing. The new policy returns the cafeteria to a meeting place for sports teams and other things. 

Opinions on new policies are important in order to improve them. Knowing how students and teachers feel can help make improvements on what should be added or taken away from a new policy.  

Jared Weiss, a junior at Lake Shore said, “There’s no reason you should be more than 10 minutes late to class.”

Weiss initially stated he agreed with the policy, however, he believes there can be changes made, “I feel like if you get caught in the hallway that’s a little strict. They should just send you back to class.”

Another student has a different view on the new policy, Ariona Borkowski, a senior at Lake Shore, said, “I think it’s unfair because like a lot of people have to use the bathroom like when the bathrooms are full, they’re not giving you a chance to make it to class. The fact that you have to go to a separate room just for being late is giving us an opportunity to skip.”

Teachers also have an opinion on the Red Room. Some teachers like the new policy as it’s a place for students to go instead of interrupting the class. Julie Roda, a math teacher at Lake Shore said, “I’ve only sent one student there, but it’s a place for them to go. That’s a good thing, they have somewhere to go and it’s supervised. Instead of putting them out in the hall, when who knows what they’re doing. You get six minutes in between classes plus an extra ten, that’s 16 minutes to get to class on time. That is plenty of time, I wholly support that proposal.”

The red room has been set up to improve overall responsibility that students have to themselves, other students and their teachers. Its main purpose is to not leave students unattended so they don’t get into trouble. 

 Dr. Stevens said, “I know some of the kids are a little, I don’t know if the right word is terrified of going in the Red Room, but that’s not what it’s meant to be. It’s so that we have a place to provide that supervision so that people aren’t in places they aren’t supposed to be and that they’re not unattended.”

Although some Shorians may find the new policy controversial, it is important to understand all perspectives and opinions in the halls of Lake Shore.