lockers

Scott Watson
March 21, 2012
English Honors 2
Señora Koch
Title

Señor Watson: Thank you for having me today Mrs. Pitter!

Señora Pitter: Its my pleasure, I’m glad to see that the student body has taken some time together and sent you to me.

Señor Watson: Well as you know, recently there was a search of the student’s lockers in the hope of finding drugs or some other paraphernalia. Did you support this?

Señora Pitter: Yes, I did. In fact, I was the one who initially organized it.

Señor Watson: I see! What was your reasoning behind this?

Señora Pitter: The office is constantly getting reports of students who are possibly under the influence of drugs. After a while of getting reports, I decided it should be time that the lockers be searched.

Señor Watson: Some would say that that would be against students’ rights. Any comments?

Señora Pitter: When students decide to go to Civic Memorial, they agree that they won’t bring anything or perform anything considered illegal on school grounds. So, when its suspected that students are storing illegal drugs in their lockers, which is technically school property I’ll remind you, it’s the school’s duty to retrieve the drugs and punish those students who broke the rules.


Señor Watson: I never thought of it like that. However, many students feel as if they’ve been violated by these searches. As I’m sure you know, girls hate their purses and whatnot being rummaged through; and boys feel the same way about their things. What do you think about how the students feel?

Señora Pitter: It’s my job as principle to connect with my students and help them to achieve their highest goals. It hurts me when my students feel like they do right now, however, it’s also my job to make sure that nothing harmful happens to them. If students were allowed complete privacy in their lockers, then how could we regulate and stop students from storing and selling drugs from their locker. Ultimately, my goal is to protect my students.

Señor Watson: Even if that means they get upset?

Señora Pitter: Sadly, yes.

Señor Watson: I think I’m beginning to understand why the searches happened. May I ask, how effective were the searches?

Señora Pitter: Of course I can’t tell you any names, but there we’ve uncovered quite a few pieces of contraband. I hate to say it, but there was a quite a few more pieces then when we searched the lockers in November.

Señor Watson: And what do you think this shows?

Señora Pitter: From what we can tell, drug trafficking and storage is on the rise at Civic Memorial. From many student’s points of views, these actions are invisible, so when we search through lockers they feel confused and don’t understand why its happening. But from the administrative point of view, we know pretty accurately what’s going on around the school. In the end, the fact that these actions are on the rise only shows that more searches are necessary.

Señor Watson: This quite a startling statistic, even I didn’t know the extent of why these things were happening. Perhaps if the students realized why these drug searches are so necessary, they’d understand. Is it possible that you could inform them?

Señora Pitter: I see no reason why it’s not. I didn’t realize how upset the students were getting until they sent you to me. It’s amazing how long a little bit a communication can go. However, we obviously can’t realize any names of students who have been caught doing anything illegal.

Señor Watson assumed so. One last question if I( may?

Señora Pitter: Be my guest.

Señor Watson: What is the punishment for being caught doing something illegal on school grounds. I’ve heard anything from students being put in ISS to being sent to the county jail.

Señora Pitter: There is some truth and some lies in that. Depending on the severity of the actions performed, we usually only suspend students from CM. Repeat offenders that are expelled if we deem it necessary. And if the actions are worse, then we may have the police come immediately if necessary.

Señor Watson: Mrs. Pitter, it was my honor coming today. You’ve helped me come to realize quite a few things today. I hadn’t even thought how big of a problem we had at our school and how necessary it is for us to take action against it. Thanks to you, the school body will be hearing from me very soon.

Señora Pitter: I’m very happy that you came to me today so that I could answer all of yours and the student body’s questions. Believe me, a principle feels good when she knows that her students are willing to come to her with their problems. I know that often times it seems the administration does things without a purpose, but the action being taken against illegal things at our school is one-hundred percent necessary. Once again, thank you for coming.

After today, my eyes have been opened to all the problems at my own school. I had never even began to think about how bad it was. If the students were to stop complaining for a minute, they;’d be able to stop the problem that was causing the administration to search our lockers. While it may be against our freedoms t have our lockers searched, one needs to take themselves away from the situation nd then to look at the situation gin. There’s a bigger problem here then what we originally thought. I had once thought that Mrs. Pitter had no right right going through my own locker, but now I think a little bit differently. I still don’t really like the thought of it, but I don’t like the thought that druggies around the school are what are the actual problem. If the student body hadn’t selected me for this opportunity, I may still be in the ignorance I had surrounded myself in. It’s actually really obvious now how many people around her use their lockers as storage, to hide things away from the administrations eye. In the end, I learnt a lot of things today from Mrs. Pitter, and for the rest of my life I’ll never estimate how far a little bit of communication can go.