Senior privilege is a time-earned tradition for seniors nationwide, and it rewards them for their hard work and success. The GRHS students work hard to get good grades and represent their school in a stellar manner. So when the GRHS seniors’ privilege of signing themselves out when their teachers were absent was revoked at the beginning of the school year, naturally they were not pleased.
However, Principal Michelle Giurlando and Vice Principal Tina Bacolas have their reasons for revoking the privilege. There were many reasons but their main point included getting the students back into the building. Another reason was the problem of a teacher being absent or not. If the teacher isn’t here in the morning but comes back in the afternoon, students may accidentally miss their class by assuming that the teacher is absent. There wasn’t a foolproof way to ensure the seniors weren’t skipping class on “accident.”
“So we are trying to build a better mouse trap so that seniors definitely get some kind of perk or privilege but that it’s manageable within a procedure of ensuring everybody is safe. “ Principal Michelle Giurlando states.
Out of the 51 seniors I surveyed, 100 percent of them want the privilege back in place. The seniors feel as though there is no special privilege for them. Many seniors stated the same idea that we have reached a certain level of maturity. In college, we will have to have this type of accountability and independence. Why not start training us for it now? We have made it through high school, it’s our final semester. We deserve to have something special just for us.
Juniors are also allowed to sign out for option, which was originally a senior-only privilege. The senior lounge and the library get crammed, especially during the middle block. It’s difficult for seniors to be productive when surrounded by friends with no guidance from a teacher. Most seniors just want to work from the comfort of their home.
“We deserve it and usually it is easier to do homework at home rather than in a loud environment filled with loud middle schoolers. It is hard to find a place to go to focus and I feel I would do better at my home. we did not do anything to have this taken away.” Senior Maggie Harris states.
Whether or not this privilege is put back in place, the second and final semester for seniors is full of fun events. While it would be nice to have, there’s plenty for us to look forward to, privilege or not.
