In a public school, students can be creative in how they choose to express themselves through clothing, language, accessories, and stationary. Walking into a classroom, you can find many different colored and patterned book bags, folders, binders. However, you will find that almost every student in La Plata High School has one object that is the exact same: the LPHS agenda book.
Beginning this school year, students were required to buy La Plata High School agenda books for $5. This agenda book contains the school’s code of conduct, places to write homework, and a chart for teachers to write hall passes. The purpose of the agenda is to give students a way to keep track of assignments and stay on task, as well as to decrease the number of yellow pieces of paper that were previously used as hall passes. Despite its good intentions and undeniable usefulness, this new requirement has caused some dissension among students.
One potential issue regarding the agenda book is its size. La Plata High School agenda books used to be larger in size, but this year its width and length has been decreased. This can be a positive in some students’ eyes as it helps to decrease the size of all the books that they must carry around, but to some it may also be a drawback. Due to its decrease in size, the space to write in is limited. This makes it difficult to record all of one’s homework in the box for that date, especially if you have an excessive amount of homework or large handwriting. Perhaps a shift back towards larger agenda books could occur in the future in order to address this issue since it hinders some students in use of the agenda.
A second thing that has caused some dissension is the fact that agendas are mandatory. This has upset students who had already bought an agenda prior to being informed that LPHS agendas were mandatory, unlike in previous years when they were optional. This downside is exacerbated by the fact that most agenda books at stores like Target can cost upwards of $15. When two students at La Plata were asked whether they had bought an agenda prior to the beginning of school, both said yes. Both added that they still continue to use this agenda due to the larger amount of space provided to write in, and also as they had already spent significantly more money on this agenda. One way to address this is that students could perhaps still use their own agendas, as long as if they had the school-mandated one in their locker to use when needed, such as for hall passes.
This leads to another issue of how students were required to purchase the LPHS agenda for $5. This, however, could be likened to the fee you must pay when in an art class in order to use the school’s art supplies. Also, if a student expresses that he has a financial issue which precludes him from paying for the agenda, one can be provided to him.
An additional point that has caused some unease is using the agenda for hall passes. For students, purchasing an agenda was required, but teachers are not required to use it for writing hall passes. Due to this, not all teachers are using the agenda for hall passes, possibly because they know that others aren’t requiring agendas to write passes, leading to a bandwagon effect. Riley Weinberg, a senior at La Plata, said that her teachers do not use the agenda book for hall passes, and she has “gotten only paper hall passes so far this year.” This seems to contradict the purpose of the agenda as being used for hall passes. If students are required to buy an agenda, teachers should also be required to use it when writing hall passes. This would eliminate any distress over who does or does not use the agenda for hall passes.
A last issue with the agenda book regards sanitation. If used for hall passes, students must then carry their agenda into the bathroom. However, in bathrooms there are no places to set agendas. It must either be held or set on the floor, helping to spread bacteria. Millicent Szalapski, another senior at La Plata, is opposed to setting her agenda on the floor, and recommended magazine-type slots to put agendas in. This would help to solve the issue of sanitation regarding agenda books and use of the bathroom.
Despite these possible drawbacks, the agenda book initiative has many positives. It helps to keep students that generally struggle to keep up with work organized and on task. It also has the potential of decreasing the amount of paper used for hall passes, thus benefiting the environment.
Although some may say that the requirement of purchasing a La Plata High School agenda is overwhelmingly negative, it simply has some issues regarding it. These include sanitation and use as hall passes, as well as space to write in, but otherwise the agenda has the potential to be very positive and reap many rewards through keeping many students on task in regards to doing their homework. Any potential issues with the agenda book can be compared to Edline, which has occasional errors, but they gradually get fixed. Edline, once the error has been fixed, helps students significantly as they can see their grades in a timely fashion, thus they do not need to interrupt class to see their grade. Instead, the class can work efficiently. Just as it can when agendas are used to make sure that a whole class does its homework and is ready to learn the following day.
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