This fall, the deans’ office issued some new rules and new methods for communicating rule violations, allowing teachers to report infractions through the Jupiter Ed gradebook’s “anecdotal” record-keeping system.
In September, students received an emailed announcement from Dean Charlene Levi detailing some key rules for the new school year. They include rules for hallway and bathroom etiquette, reminding students not to use earbuds and headphones in the hallways and to leave cell phones in their backpacks before signing out of class to use the bathroom. All classrooms also received new sign out books and laminated hallway passes.
Along with these small updates comes a major change in how any rule breaking in the school is communicated: Jupiter Ed (the digital gradebook all Townsend Harris teachers use) now allows teachers to select from a menu of infractions and post them online for students, parents, deans, and administrators to see. If a student cuts class, for instance, the teacher can log it in the “Behavioral log” section of Jupiter and immediately notify parents and the deans through the system.
Ian Morzan, a dean at THHS, explained the goal of the new Jupiter anecdotal system. He said that the school is attempting to be “more official and transparent.”
He also discussed the deans’ increased focus on policies for bathroom use, saying “Last year, we noticed students communicating with each other to meet up in the bathrooms, congregating, and eating.” He said the new rules aim to address that.
In addition to deans and parents receiving the anecdotal notifications, the guidance department can use the anecdotal system to check up on student’s well being. Jessica Graf, Assistant Principal of Pupil Personnel Services, said that if the anecdotal record system causes students to feel stressed, they could always “speak with our counselors and address how we can work through it.” She said the anecdotal process creates a system with “clear expectations about how we operate in the school building.”
Students shared their thoughts with The Classic on these changes. With regard to bathroom policies, students responded to a set of rules that appear printed and pasted inside each new bathroom sign-out book. The rules indicate when students should leave class (not at the start of class, for instance) and suggest appropriate amounts of time to be out of class when signing out to use the bathroom.
Freshman Austin Yang said he thought the rules and procedures were a positive addition to the school, and said he found the policies to be similar to ones he has faced in middle school.
Sophomore Johnson Liu said “[t]he bathroom rule feels unnecessary. Someone could easily have an emergency and need to use the bathroom for more than [the time indicated in the signout book].”
Senior Dexter Park believed the new policy would “enact better behavior on the students” but that he is unsure if there would be a considerable change as it is “depend[ent] on the teacher.”
Timothy Hanford, a Classical Latin teacher, said that the referral system must be dealt with “on a case-by-case basis, as it is different depending on the teachers.” He said that teachers should fill out these referrals as “advised by the deans” and that students following the rules will “improve the school community and spirit.”
