The morning announcements- an everyday ritual that you’ve begun to tune out. 

Even as Dr. Lovell’s voice blares throughout every classroom across campus, no one lends an ear. 

They seem to be a daily occurrence, these disciplinary speeches, yet nothing seems to change quickly or effectively.  

These calls to action fall on the deaf ears of nearly 2,400 Sunnyslope students, which are disregarded as “not their problem”. 

Each year, as hundreds of freshmen pour onto campus and returning students arrive back from summer break, the same issue arises- student misconduct and antagonism. 

It seems as though the general animosity among the student body increases every year, resulting in an increase in fights and vandalism. 

Assistant Principal of Attendance and Discipline, John Lovell, is tasked with releasing due process announcements to notify the campus of these issues, yet they are only solved through a physical presence on campus. 

“We’re not out [on campus] just to discipline and to find kids that are doing things wrong. It’s good for us to get out there and make connections,” said Assistant Principal of Operations and Resources, Tim Matteson.

The deployment of school administrators roaming the campus is just one of the ways that Sunnyslope is fighting this increase in student delinquency.

Although this method is time-consuming, it has proven to be the most effective solution to this increase in misconduct.

“We always try to reiterate what ‘Respect the S’ means…it means showing kindness to fellow students…it means picking up trash. The focus [of disciplining students] could be placed on that,” said Matteson. 

While the issues of litter, physical violence, and vandalism are unavoidable, an increase in effective discipline shows potential to decrease the criminalities occurring on campus. 

“[Detention] doesn’t make people any better. If we had some kind of counseling… for mental health issues and other options to release energy or creativity…it would be more helpful for kids,” said Spanish Teacher Sarah Glover.

Eliminating the issue of misconduct at the source would become instrumental to solving the student delinquency problem. 

“People don’t know how to tolerate differences,” said Glover, “fuses are very short.”

The most prevalent example of the rancor across campus is the increase in school fights since the school year’s beginning. 

These brawls are notably more intense than those which occurred in previous years. 

“These fights affect the morale of the school as a whole. It just kind of spreads negativity,” said Glover. 

The division of the student body has become more and more prevalent throughout the past few years, but is remarkably at its worst during the beginning of every school year. 

Many believe that the overcrowding of campus may be an unavoidable cause of this issue.

“Space wise, we’re all kind of shoved in the same spot. I also think that people don’t know how to tolerate differences,” said Glover. 

Overcrowding is a well-known issue at Sunnyslope, which is seen in the lack of on-campus parking, lunch table space, and classes packed to their occupancy limit. 

Although these issues are not endemic to Sunnyslope, they are quite rampant within the Sunnyslope community. 

“Kids have been kids for thousands of years. I just think we need to maintain our expectations and accountability levels. There’s not much that we can do that we’re not doing now,” said Matteson. 

These issues within the community must be addressed, otherwise student criminality will never decrease.

Creating connections between students and staff is essential to changing the environment of the Sunnyslope campus. 

Clearly, student misconduct is an issue that should not be ignored. 

As Matteson said,  “if you see something, say something.”