GMHS Lasso Online

Dear Editor,

Monday during third block study hall, students in the library from study hall were going about their studious business as usual, when suddenly asked to leave if not a senior with open-study or using a computer.

Due to a new policy, use of the tables will no longer be available during study hall for supervised study kids. Reluctantly, I bit my tongue and quietly picked up my things from the library where I was studying, and left the library. Since then, I have stayed away from the library as much as possible because I have not been able to get over the absurdity of this new policy.

Why are respectful students being asked to leave the library for what seems like no reason? The library staff say they can’t be in charge of supervising all of the students that come in. Well you know what, I’m stressed too! Even more so now that I’m no longer allowed to complete my homework in a composed environment.

Head librarian, Ms. Lisa Myklestad, claims that the supervised-study kids already have a place to sit down and use tables to do their homework. The place where kids go to check in for study hall: the cafeteria. This is a joke.

The purpose of a cafeteria is not the place for studies. Third block is right after Mustang Block, where kids from all over the school swarm into the cafeteria, dirtying it up. Therefore, when third block study hall enters immediately after, the cafeteria is disgusting. Tables are dirty, typically with food crumbs and all kinds of spilt drinks. The floors are covered as well. The custodians are in there fixing the cafeteria back up for lunches and half the time it’s sticky from humidity, freezing from too much AC, and there are strange smells wafting from the kitchen.  It’s just an uncomfortable environment to sit in for any long amount of time.

Not to mention, the people who are in the cafeteria are usually the people who don’t wish to use their time in study hall for studies. I’m not saying that I have an issue with that, it’s not like it’s required for anyone to work during study hall, but it’s difficult for those of us who do use our study hall for work to be in the same place as them. It’s difficult because while I am sitting at a table trying to read, study, write, or whatever, there are also people in the same room talking, laughing, messing around, and being disruptive.

But that’s their right, so my point is that the students who want to be seriously working need to be in a place that’s not in the same room as the others. This was why the library was so great. It provided an appropriate place for study hall kids to come and work on anything they needed to in a quiet place, whether it meant something on a computer or sprawling out at a table to study, or even sitting on a couch to read quietly.

Now, I do see the point of the administration. Their point is that they are limited on resources. I understand that there are classes who need to be in the library sometimes, and that we are also rounding the corner to exams and students and teachers from all across the building are trying to get into the library for end of year business. But, it’s not fair to take away from the students what has been there since the first day of school.

The library is a resource and, understandably, is only so large and limited on staff members, but there should be a medium somewhere. I know there is a possible classroom that’s available to study hall near the band room that’s not the sticky, uncomfortable cafeteria, but there again we run into kids who have different uses of their time during study hall.

What I’d like to see happen is for the library to be given back to students again in all study halls, whether using the computer or not. As students, we don’t see all the reasons that are behind taking it away so, yes, it’s harder for us to understand. But, as teachers and administrators, it’s urgently necessary for you to understand what has been taken away from us while we’re not able to use the library.

The one thing that I do not want to see is some sort of policy enforced on study hall stating that students have to be strictly quiet and studious because that will also cause another outbreak of student complaints for sure.

Perhaps we could ask for some parent volunteers to come and help take some of the weight off of the library staff’s shoulders, so that they can better accommodate and supervise the students who are coming in. The solution that we prefer is not to figure out another place for the study hall kids to go, but to figure out how to make the library work for everyone.

 

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