News Staff Reporter
New, informal day student discussions have been established this spring to raise and discuss important issues pertaining to day students.
Mr. John Cobb, English Teacher and Day Student Adviser, and Noelle Hashim ‘07, Day Student Representative to the Student Council, decided to begin holding these meetings this year and then have them a few times a term starting next year. When asked who initiated this idea, Noelle said, “Dan Groberg ’07 emailed me and said that he wanted to have a meeting with Mr. Cobb and other day students to address the concerns of the group, and I agreed that this would be a great idea.”
The first meeting was held a few weeks ago during conference period and various issues such as cell phone usage and parking were discussed. After the meeting, it was decided that an unofficial and informal Day Student Council, which has existed officially in the past, should be reinstated. Dan said, “I felt that the best way to solve the issues that face day students was through meetings with Mr. Cobb to speak directly to the administration.”
Noelle also enjoyed this meeting and said, “There were so many different opinions heard from people in all different forms and we were actually able to move forward after the discussions. People were not afraid to tell Mr. Cobb their opinions and they [the students] were very open. Many also wanted to have this type of meeting again.”
The first meeting made progress. According to Noelle, there was a consensus on the cell phone usage problem. “At the end of the meeting, we decided that when students get a Saturday detention for cell phone use in a restricted area, that punishment is too harsh for a first time offense.”
Because of the interest voiced and the solutions that such meetings could potentially generate, Noelle and Mr. Cobb will hold many meetings next school year.
In previous years, there was an official Day Student Council. Mr. Cobb’s predecessor, Mrs. Miller, came up with the idea. Both Noelle and Mr. Cobb said that this idea had failed in the past because of inconvenient meeting times and lack of attendance. Noelle said that the new Conference Period could change this. “Everybody has conference period in common, we were thinking that in the future, we might be able to meet on Tuesdays, and anybody could come to these meetings to discuss concerns, or even have a pizza party or something like that,” said Noelle enthusiastically.
Noelle felt strongly that these meetings would really help day students. “Another great thing about this is that it is an easier way for me to directly get the concerns of people and get them to the Student Council by Thursday, for their weekly meetings.” After issues are discussed at these meetings, Noelle will go to the Student Council with a proposal and Mr. Cobb will go to Mr. Ford, Dean of Students, to discuss and create solutions to the problems that are brought up.
Both Noelle and Mr. Cobb said that the two perennial issues that day students have are cell phone use and parking. Mr. Cobb said, “I agree with the argument that day students require cell phones more than boarders, but that discretion is still important. Frankly, parking is at a premium here, and I believe that this is an issue that people are going to have to deal with.”
Though Mr. Cobb said that the administration would not sway too much on the parking, he also said, “Mr. Ford is very receptive towards concerns for all students, and that the school has worked very hard in trying to make the lives of day students better.”
Some of these improvements include doubling the space for day students in recent years, installing marble in the corridors of the 4th, 5th, and 6th form day student locker area.
When asked about how they feel about these meetings, day students had mixed opinions. Amy Gobel ’08 said, “In theory, they would be useful, though it won’t really affect me in a major way.” Another person was very supportive of these meetings, though, and said, “I believe that these meetings will help voice concerns held by many people and will hopefully bring about change that will benefit all day students.”
