Safety, efficiency, cleanliness, and communication are important things to many students and staff on campus. But has Marshall improved in these areas? Many might say, yes.
Class Editorial
Safety, efficiency, cleanliness, and communication are important things to many students and staff on campus. But has Marshall improved in these areas? Many might say, yes.
Dr. Marcela Valadez, an assistant principal at Thurgood Marshall Secondary School for her second year, reports that she has made some improvements regarding safety at Marshall, specifically student altercations.
“We’re taking more of a restorative approach to how we support students, as opposed to a punitive approach. And we’re seeing that, initially, at the beginning of last year, we did have a number of Ed Code violations. But the more that we stick with these practices, we are noticing fewer and fewer students that are exhibiting challenging behaviors or demonstrating Ed Code violations,” Valadez said.
Now, perhaps because of those changes, people on campus are seeing a difference in safety.
“During those years it really seemed like a darker time when there were more fights on campus during lunch. There were people who were aware, or students were aware of them before they happened. I do think it’s the new administrator, Dr. Valadez, who is applying whatever strategies that she knows of, to help have those students communicate better and to break those differences between those students that are having a problem, the conflict. She’s somehow intervening,” said Nancy Swartz, a Marshall teacher of 14 years.
The tardy rate has also declined. Efficiency became an issue in the morning when a new tardy system was introduced this year. Students lined up in the front lobby if they arrived at school late and then had to sign in to go to class.
“We started the tardy lines because we noticed that there were, like the first week of school, there were over 200 students coming late to school on a regular basis. And once we saw that number dwindle, then we were no longer doing the sign in, sign out. Now we’re seeing an uptick again now that we removed that system. But we took the time to reflect because ultimately we want students in class. We don’t want students taking time being in a line to sign in because they were late, because then we also got feedback that they’re like, well, we’re even more late,” Valadez said.
Victoria Humdy (“Ms. Vicci”), a security guard at Thurgood Marshall, gives more detail on why the tardy lines were stopped.
“It wasn’t temporary, it was meant to be permanent. But, after having a meeting, discussions, and what not, we feel that this could be done by their first period teachers,” she said. “If they are marking them tardy then we don’t have to double up and do what we do and actually make students more tardy because they have to sign in.”
Another potential improvement is the dress code policy. Earlier this year, many students were surprised by a new enforcement of the dress code. Now, because of student feedback, Valadez has formed a dress code committee to correct the mistakes of the old dress code.
“The best thing that’s going to come out of it is just a shift in our cultural perception of dress. Like one of the biggest things is, we want students not to be ashamed of their bodies. So, we want body positivity. We also want a dress code that is representative of the needs of our community, recognizing that there are different types of bodies and also like different cultural associations with different things,” Valadez said.
Next are the bathrooms. Students have consistently complained about the bathrooms being filthy in recent years. A recent development in the North Quad has students and staff on campus curious as to possible bathroom renovations happening soon. Portable bathrooms are quite visibly seen in the quad, which means that the school bathrooms are being renovated.
“As far as the bathrooms are concerned, that work will start in the spring. We already have the semi-portable, port-a-potties,” reports Marshall Principal Lori Touloumian.
Students and staff have voiced concerns about the bathrooms.
“I don’t know in great detail but I do hear from students occasionally that bathrooms are locked and I do hear the announcements and get the emails when there are bathrooms that are closed,” said Marshall teacher of ten years Joshua Tornek. “This definitely affects student performance. Not being able to access a clean bathroom regularly is a concern for students.”
Some students have voiced concerns about the timing and placement of the new port-a-potties.
“Why are they having the bathrooms in the middle of lunch [area]? If you go in, everyone knows it’s you. I think it’s just really bad that it’s in a public area,” freshman Rosalina Tatlyan said.
“I like that they’re remodeling the restrooms. I just wish they had done it over the summer so we don’t have to use port-a-potties,” sophomore Isaac Hammer said.
But Principal Touloumian says this was not something that was in the hands of Marshall administration.
“It was, I guess, a contracting issue. I’m not exactly sure of the specifics of it. We did raise our concern. I was under the impression that they were going to be done over summer. Whether there was miscommunication, it’s unfortunate, because we did have to shut down programs that we had planned to have over summer,” Touloumian said.
It seems that community and student feedback has had a real impact on student life at Marshall.
“I’ve been seeing some changes that students have been wanting. For example, equipment for the gym and stuff, or for volleyball,” Tatlyan said. “I feel like we’ve been getting more of what we wanted.”
Marshall has continued to move in the right direction in recent years. We hope the district and administration will continue to hear student concerns to tackle issues such as programs and personnel being cut and student welfare.