It’s a word most students at EHS can’t stop hearing. -Vandalism. Year after year, the cycle continues in its most destructive way. Most recently, it’s been targeted at the upstairs bathroom. The vandalism that occurred last year was corrected as EHS principal, Jessica Grable, stated, “Yes, the vandalism that occurred last year has been corrected. We correct current issues as much as we can, depending on what it is and what we need to fix it.”
This year, that vandalism is back just as soon as it left, forcing the administration to contemplate on how to correct it. The administration in response to the vandalism shut the upstairs bathroom down, pulling a gate in the entrance that blocks students from entering. That bathroom was re-opened on Nov. 15, 2023. Since then, the bathroom has remained open. EHS has made it clear there will be a reward and EHS will prosecute the perpetrators. EHS has continued to devise strategies in order to put an end to vandalism.
The EHS administration is beginning to clamp down on the vandalism in an attempt to stop it. During the week of Nov. 13, 2023, Grable and assistant principal Andy Polland staged class meetings for the graduating classes of seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen. The class meetings worked through multiple points concerning vandalism and other important issues that the administration is working to correct. Hopefully with integrating the reporting platform, “See Something, Say Something,” which is designed for students to report vandalism anonymously, the amount of vandalism will correct itself in due time.
The expectation of students is to build a culture within the school that immediately frowns upon behavior similar to vandalism. Though no fault of the administrators or the fault of the students, it is unfortunate and unfair that a select group of students ruin the culture that is trying to be built by the students and staff of EHS. It is not the duty of the administration to have to clamp down on vandalism and do everything in their power to correct it. The power lands in the hands of the students. This “culture” that the administrators, staff and students are building is directly influenced by the students and the ones that speak up when they see wrong behavior. This is easier said than done, but the hope of “See Something, Say Something” is that students won’t feel powerless to speak up against bad behavior.
At the end of the day, it’s the students’ culture to build. The students are the ones who can directly influence the environment that they are in.It’s time for the students to take ownership of the culture they want to build and see it through to the end.
