Editorial – AHS NEWSPAPER

EDITORIAL: AHS Phone Policy Teaches Compliance, Not Responsibility

October 7, 2024

There’s a new phone policy at AHS, and you’ve probably noticed it. Our phones go into what one might call a “phone jail”—those numbered slots where our devices are locked up during class, sometimes with an actual lock and key. The rationale is clear: no phones in class, no distractions. But let’s ask the question: why have we gone to such extremes?

We at ANDOVERVIEW strongly believe that class time is for learning, and phones can be and have been a major distraction. The administration has had enough of our glowing faces, aglow not from intellectual enlightenment, but from under brightly lit phone screens. Our teachers are concerned about our development; it is not that it gives them pleasure to deprive us of our hypnotic devices. But does locking up our phones, as if they’re dangerous contraband, teach us the right lesson?

This is high school. We’re constantly being told to act maturely and take responsibility for our actions. Some of us are already 18—legally adults—yet we’re treated as though we can’t be trusted with even the smallest responsibility. By removing the temptation completely, the administration is not teaching us how to manage it. It is just kicking the can down the road. Very soon, many of us will be heading off to college or entering the workforce. In those environments, policies like this one don’t exist. There won’t be phone jails. No one will force us to lock up our devices. It is up to us to learn to make responsible choices.

The phone policy creates a false sense of order. It’s easy for students to follow the rules because we don’t have a choice. But the moment the structure is gone, those who never learned self-discipline may be the first to revert to bad habits. What if, instead, we were trusted with our phones? If someone is caught using their phone during class, they face immediate consequences, as well as potentially being singled out for phone jail—with no parole—for the rest of the year. This is about accountability. We learn by making mistakes and facing consequences. If we’re shielded from making mistakes in the first place, we’ll never learn.

The new phone policy does enforce compliance with rules, but one should remember that we are expected to follow rules, even without heavy-handed enforcement. We need to be treated like the almost-adults that we are. It’s time to trust us to learn from our choices, not lock them away.

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EDITORIAL: Cafeteria Doors Closed to Early Students in A.M.

January 13, 2023

Every morning from 7:45 to 8:00, a large number of students are stuck in the cafeteria and not allowed to go to the rest of the school.

Students don’t have a choice in this matter—most buses arrive before 8:00, and you can’t blame those who drive to school for wanting to beat the terrible traffic by arriving early. The reason why we’re not allowed to leave the cafeteria until 8:00 is that teachers are not required to arrive until 8:05, so there would be inadequate supervision. While this is understandable for safety reasons, this policy is much too strict, considering that most teachers arrive before 8:00 and being in the cafeteria is a nightmare.

The 15 minutes in the current system are simply not enough to get anything done. People need time before school to meet with teachers or make up tests, since H-blocks can get very noisy. Athletes need to drop off their stuff in the locker rooms, and with the large school building, there’s barely time to go down to the gym and then all the way up to the third floor for math class. People who don’t have printers at home may need to use those at the library, which are so slow that ten minutes oftentimes aren’t enough.

Even if you don’t have to go anywhere, staying in the cafeteria in the morning is annoying. It’s difficult to get homework done in that loud environment. For people who dislike loud noises, it’s absolutely maddening.

If we were allowed to leave the cafeteria earlier, most students will choose to stay in the cafeteria in the mornings anyway, and those who won’t will most likely be in a classroom or the library where they will be supervised by teachers.

Some students at this school are legally adults, and many of them can drive. If we’re not trusted enough by the administration to go see a teacher when we want as teenagers, how will we learn to manage our time after high school? In the end, an environment of trust will make things easier for both staff and students.

Articles Editorial Sports

EDITORIAL: New Athletic Director for APS

May 23, 2022

It has been recently announced that Wayne Puglisi, a longtime physical education teacher at Andover High, will become the new Athletic Director for Andover Public Schools beginning next school year.

Our current Athletic Director, Bill Martin, will long be remembered for his dedication and hard work he has put in during the past five years at AHS, specifically helping keep the athletic department alive and successful as the school faced restrictions during COVID. Martin’s organization and strong encouragement for all teams, whether it be Varsity, JV, or Freshman, girls or boys, has been clear throughout his time at AHS. Martin, alongside Assistant Athletic Director Kerry Cashman, would show up to watch and support as many of our Andover teams as possible, which always made athletes feel driven and appreciated for their hard work.

While this role has big shoes to fill, Puglisi has a great amount of experience to help him get off on the right foot. He has been working as a physical education teacher for the past 24 years at AHS, and has also been a long time coach in not only Andover, but also in Londonderry, N.H., and Winchester, and currently at Timberland Regional High School.

As a physical education teacher, Puglisi, also known by students as Pug, is known for his overall kindness and caring personality During the remote learning period at the beginning of COVID, Puglisi would check up on all of his classes, constantly keeping up with the well-being of each student. Puglisi is also known as being a motivating teacher, pushing students to step outside of their comfort zones to try something new.

The role of Athletic Director is not an easy task to take on, yet Puglisi has consistently embodied important traits that are key to success in the role. Taking on the role of AD includes coordinating all games, teams, coaches, and players, along with enforcing rules and regulations regarding athletic standards and expectations. The AD is also the main contact for any parent, coach, or athlete in a state of conflict, therefore having a strong quantity of patience, empathy, and discipline is important. Puglisi exemplifies these traits, especially including demonstrating outstanding leadership and earning the respect of his athletes, students, and colleagues alike.

Puglisi is extremely involved in our local community, including being the current coordinator of Town Pride Lacrosse League, being the boys lacrosse coach’s representative for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), and serving on the board for the Italian National lacrosse program. From 2009 to 2011, Puglisi was the president of the Eastern Mass Lacrosse Coaches Association.

While Puglisi will be missed as a valued physical education teacher, our community is excited to welcome him into his new role and see what the future holds for him.

Heading photo courtesy of Eagle Tribune

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EDITORIAL: College Decisions Causing Stress

April 7, 2022

High school seniors across the world are currently having to grapple with a major decision that will play an important role in their further education. For some students, deciding where to go to college is simple; they have known their whole lives they are destined to go to this place, or they toured a specific school junior year and knew it was the one. Yet, for others, the choice can be quite stressful to map out.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been significant changes to the admissions process — specifically, the removal of the requirement for students to submit standardized testing scores. Since students did not have to submit scores, many decided to apply to more schools that might have originally been out of reach. As a result, universities this year have received record numbers in terms of applicants.

In addition, many universities over-accepted the Class of 2021 last year, therefore they are having to accept less students this year in order to restore their undergrad population.

All of these contributing factors have led to a stress overload for seniors. Students this year are facing unexpected rejections more often than before.

As it is expected the next few years will be impacted by the pandemic, there will continue to be a need for resources for the rising seniors. In the future, we hope to be able to find more accessible ways to connect with guidance counselors and access helpful, basic resources

that will outline exactly what rising seniors need to fill out with specific information. For example, seniors and their parents did not know what the CSS profile or FAFSA is or how to fill them out. Many students do not know what things we should be doing since freshman year to help make applying to colleges easier in the future.

We believe that having more time and meetings with guidance counselors since freshman year. These meetings can consist of figuring out what the student wants after high school and making sure they are on the right track for that. In addition, having a platform that students can access as early as ninth grade, with all the college information and checklists could truly help.

Editorials represent the opinion of the ANDOVERVIEW staff as a whole.

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EDITORIAL: New Tardy Policy Causes Frustration

February 14, 2022

ANDOVERVIEW Staff

The new tardy policy being enforced at Andover High School is causing controversy and uproar left and right. The new policy states that students are expected to be sitting in their seats at 8:15 a.m. and will receive an in-school detention on the fourth tardy. On the seventh tardy, the student is subject to detention, loss of parking privileges, or suspension.

The tardy line has been horrendously long each day, with over 100 kids waiting in the lobby the first week after the implementation of the new policy. As these students wait in line, they miss valuable class time, even if they had walked in at 8:15. Additionally, what is the purpose of reprimanding someone for being late by giving them a consequence that causes them to miss more class time?

Not all students have cars and can decide when they get to leave to be on time. Many students are driven to school by others, take the bus, or walk to school. How is this policy fair to students who might be driving from another parent’s house in a different town? These students are being reprimanded for being late when they may already be leaving 30-40 minutes early to commute. Furthermore, how is it fair for students to have consequences when the traffic system at AHS is a horrific mess?

There is only a fifteen-minute window for students to be dropped off in the morning where they can enter the entirety of the school, 8:00-8:15. Yet, according to this new policy, students have to be in their seats at 8:15, so technically this time window shrinks from 8:00-8:10. Ten minutes.

In previous years, having access to the rest of school in the morning truly encouraged students to come earlier because students used this time to freely hang out with friends, finish homework, go to teachers for extra help, use the printers in the library, and many more things. However, now there is no motivation to get there before 8 a.m. because we are all locked up in the cafeteria until then. Everyone tries to come to school at the exact same time, adding to the traffic, the tardy line, all the missed school, and the early morning headaches.

So, administrators, please fix pre-existing problems first by considering the use of the entire building before 8 a.m. and add an element of compassion, understanding, and empathy that all students have different situations at home. Instead of detention and suspension, how about sitting down with the student to truly understand what their situation is and coming up with a plan to improve it?

Articles Editorial Opinion

YikYak Needs To Go

January 13, 2022

ANDOVERVIEW Staff

YikYak, an online forum where nearby users can post and view comments anonymously, has resurfaced at AHS.

The app was launched in 2013 and relaunched in 2021 after being banned due to continuous cyberbullying and online harassment. On YikYak, people have the option to only interact with other users within a five–mile radius, which creates a more personalized and relevant experience for the user. The app has a feature for users to upvote or downvote posts they like or dislike. When a post gains enough upvotes, it makes it to the “hot”, or trending, page. YikYak contains age restricted material and has an age restriction of 17 and up.

Because of the app’s anonymity, AHS has been experiencing an influx of posts targeting specific students and faculty, as well as exposing their private information. Because of the five-mile radius “rule” the app has imposed, students at AHS have been arguing with students at the nearby Merrimack College. This has resulted in what we believe to be unnecessary drama. Additionally, some students are becoming increasingly anxious in fear of defamation. Principal Caitlin Brown sent an email addressing the problem on December 9, and it seems that the severity of the app’s drama has since died down. However, the problem continues. While certain AHS students have been suspended for inappropriate behavior on the app, anonymity has resulted in the continuation of such activities.

We believe the misuse of YikYak violates the school’s cyberbullying rule, and those involved should be held accountable. As a first step, we encourage students that currently have YikYak to delete the app. For students who have not previously downloaded the app, we suggest keeping your curiosity at bay.

Buses and Start Times

October 13, 2021

With the beginning of the school year, there have been many issues and complaints in association with bus transportation whether it be from parents or students, even teachers. Due to the shortage of drivers, the routes have been switching up and buses have been coming in late. This is due to many of the original bus drivers leaving during the 2019-2020 school year (the year when COVID initially hit and closed down the schools). This situation has caused many students to arrive ten to thirty minutes late to school in multiple classrooms.

The school was cooperative the first couple of days with announcements telling teachers to hold attendance until 9 o’clock, or until all the buses arrive before then. However, this has been discontinued in the past couple weeks and many students who are still arriving late to school due to buses are facing consequences.

While we know no one is to blame, we suggest that teachers wait to take attendance. This will allow bus students to not stress more about getting to school on time. This will decrease the stress present in a student’s morning as well as the teachers who don’t have to worry about submitting attendance every 5 minutes when more students arrive to class from the buses.

Another solution would be to have a mark on the attendance sheet that indicates if the student takes the bus or not, in order to differentiate from students who are actually late. If students had the bus-indication mark, if they are late from the bus, it will be an excused tardy. However, if a student arrives late and doesn’t take the bus, then they will be marked absent as it is in their control to come to class on time.

It is not the student’s fault if they are late due to the bus, therefore they should not face consequences from the teacher. A temporary solution is to become more lenient to those students who are on the buses.

A new policy is being put in place through administration in order to begin school closer to 8:15. The doors will lock at 8:20 and tardy passes will be given out to late students. Teachers are being told that attendance will be taken at this time. Students coming late from the bus will be given a yellow pass to enter class.

Back to School in May…

May 26, 2021

Considering the pandemic and schedule, it’s been an interesting year for the students at Andover High School; and with little over a month left, it became even more interesting.

On May 17, with a month left of school (just two weeks for seniors), most AHS students switched from hybrid to fully in-person classes. The change sparked many opinions regarding the safety, school capacity, schedule, and student transportation. While some were excited to go back, others worried for the safety of themselves and others, wondering what the remainder of the school year would look like.

The staff of ANDOVERVIEW feels that the thought of coming back feels overwhelming, unsafe, and that there isn’t enough space. Considering we’ve heard the max of overflow is 8 kids we’re concerned for students safety, it’s been very nerve-wracking.

Other students feel that they don’t have enough information. The schedule is something students haven’t been fully aware of in regards to Wednesdays. Personally, we think students should have been involved in how their schedule is going to change as it affects how their time will be managed.

The last thing to consider will be student transportation. With parking lots being double booked because of cohorts, juniors will have to find new ways to get to school; carpooling, walking, and busing. This could be unsafe, as it breaks social distancing guidelines, putting students at risk.

Still, with all the commotion regarding the switch, many students who have been fully remote are excited to be physically back in school. This school year has been incredibly hard, and going back in to see everyone again will be a nice way to end the year and prepare for what the next might look like.

Overall, the transition was run smoothly by the administration, but having the sheer number of people in the building double overnight was overwhelming. The hallways and classrooms feel crowded, and it is strange to be expected to continue learning with half a class full of new people.

Lessons, Tips for Motivation

March 12, 2021

In a recent issue of Education Week, two teachers discussed remote and in-person learning in relation to time management and motivation– two skills that often get lumped into the pile of “You either got them or you don’t.”

Students often bear the blame for their lack of time management and motivation. You don’t turn in an assignment and you get a zero. You could have too much homework, or you’re working two jobs plus going to school, or maybe your motivation is low because you’re depressed. It’s not like time management and motivation are academic skills that are taught in the classroom, though maybe now is the time to consider doing just that.

One year has passed since the pandemic was declared. This is a school year most students cannot wait to be done with, as it has required exceptional flexibility and perseverance. Those are tough skills to manage without time and motivation.

So how can you manage your time better and stay motivated this semester? Here are some ideas from our staff:

Study with friends (Masked and social distanced, of course.)
Take a 5-10 minute break every hour. Shorter and more frequent breaks are shown to improve focus and productivity.
Look for forward to those breaks. Plan on a little fun.
Write detailed class notes. Get out those colored pens and get creative.
Write EVERYTHING in a planner. Yes, really.
Train yourself to associate places with a function. Try to avoid working from your bed or in front of the TV.
Do something to relax in your downtime. Take a walk, watch a show, hit a baseball.
To do lists. Break large tasks into smaller pieces. Make early deadlines.

The pandemic has shined a light on gaping holes in the school support structure we’ve become accustomed to. Students, teachers, staff, administrators… we see you all doing the best you can. Let’s take all of these lessons we’ve learned this year and build a better system to make sure we’re all more motivated for our future.