By: Cheyenne Brading

A typical school day runs from 8:15 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. everyday, with a schedule of maths, sciences and language arts. Students often find that they don't have much free time other than the occasional lunch or times between classes. In the past, students had a 20-minute time frame after second period in which they could do make-up work, speak to teachers or have some free time. This time frame was referred to as “Student Resource Time” or SRT. Unfortunately, students often abused this time and the administration ran into a few problems within the system. 

Principal Troy Albert, who has been at the school for seven years, had  a big decision to make this year when it came to SRT or no SRT. He said there were two major factors he considered  when making the decision: teaching kids to be accountable and teaching teachers to hold said students accountable.

Albert also spoke about how SRT benefited clubs and how it allowed students to be able to attend meetings or activities, which allowed more students to be a part of clubs and participate in them. 

“The clubs were a great success during that time,” he acknowledged. 

Although Albert noticed that when there were 15 or more students attending a club meeting things could become out of hand. “It wasn’t an effective use of instructional time,” he said.

Albert leaned heavily on how students were consistently out of class, or in general, where they were not supposed to be. Albert took this time to mention that he values accountability and noticed that teachers were able to look after, supervise, or overall take more accountability for students when they were a functioning part of their classroom. Yet when SRT would arrive, Albert said that feature would seem to dwindle and students would roam or even vandalize the school in some cases. 

“When 9:58 a.m. came everyday, it was mad exit out of the classroom,” said Albert.

He originally thought, near the end of the previous school year, that SHS would be changing to an early dismissal at 3 p.m. SHS staff developed a schedule for this change, which also kept classes at the same time and dismissal. He thought the new schedule would allow for clubs to meet after school. However, on July 11, Albert was informed that the school would be reverting back to its regular schedule and he decided to lengthen classes for accountability purposes. 

Albert also spoke on solutions to this “free-time” problem, saying that students would often lie about where they were going or supposed to be. 

“The problem was students were allowed to go wherever they wanted and they would say they were going to a club and didn’t,” said Albert. 

Teachers have had to work around not having SRT this year. One teacher that is especially frustrated is the French and Spanish teacher, Joanna Schmidt. Schmidt feels SRT allowed there to be a time for her to personally work with students when needed. This also allowed time for retakes and make-up work. 

Although, even with this extra time through the day, Schmidt felt the students without work to do took advantage of SRT.

“Some students would take advantage (in a negative way) of the perceived ‘free’ and unstructured time and do inappropriate things,” said Schmidt. 

Schmidt agreed that SRT was seen and used as a miniature “study-hall,” or a good time to squeeze in any extra time for class work. She said for those who used it responsibly, it was extremely beneficial. 

“If I could magically encourage ALL students to just ‘DO THE RIGHT THING’ while they are at school, then the few bad apples would not ruin a positive experience for everyone - the majority of students who DO know how to behave appropriately,” she said. 

Schmidt sponsors the French Club and while SRT was previously used as a good meeting/activity period for the students in clubs, Schmidt has fallen into a small rut within the club finding it hard to keep all students participating, but not having any good time for students to meet without it being before or after school. 

Schmidt said she also used the time as an additional prep period to gather anything she needed for a later class or the next day. Now that SRT has been removed, Schmidt has had the issue of not having that extra time, adding on to out-of-school work that needs to be done. 

While Schmidt understands and supports SRT’s removal, she has some hopes that it could be brought back, and the school would be able to set up a way to hold students accountable.

“I wish we could come up with an effective way to implement it again,” she said. “I am hoping it's at least achieving what the administrators wanted - students being held accountable in their classrooms.”

Angela Phipps, who manages the PLATO program at SHS, sees both sides of the issue concerning SRT, describing that she believes SRT being removed was because teachers/staff didn't know how to properly follow protocol. 

“Kids should have been kept in their second period classes throughout SRT unless they had a club meeting or pass from another teacher,” she said. 

Phipps added that if students are allowed to roam free, or not under supervision, they were expected to be an issue. Phipps believes this is the biggest reason SRT was removed at all. 

Besides PLATO, Phipps is also the sponsor of Lions Unified. When SRT was still in place, Lion's Unified would often meet during SRT once a month. Now that it's been removed, Phipps said it has affected them quite a bit. 

“Losing our monthly SRT meeting time has made a huge impact,” she said, explaining that Lions Unified has hit a wall when it comes to finding a time for meetings and activities. Because of the kids they work with and are involved with, before and after school hasn't been much of an option. 

“The way things stand now, we are going to have to focus more on volunteer opportunities with the Special Olympics and little with serving our SCS students,”said Phipps. 

Business teacher Amy Whitlatch wishes that SHS had received its previous statement of early dismissal as it promised. Without SRT, Whitlatch has had to change her course plans and lost the ability for students to make-up tests/quizzes when absent.

Whitlatch said she wishes that SRT could have been added on as an 8th period, which would ensure students still have time to speak to teachers and get any extra help they needed. 

“I would have moved SRT to the end of the day as an 8th period to ensure students can get the help they needed,” said Whitlatch.

Another problem that she has run into is that she has had to change some of the club meetings. Although this has not been a huge issue, she has run into a few problems of students not being able to make it to the new schedule of meetings.

Sophomore Olivia Briscoe said she used SRT for Art Club and to get last-minute homework finished. She often spoke to her friends and relaxed a little before her next class.

 Due to SRT being removed, Brisco ran into the problem of having to stay up later than usual to finish homework. 

“I have felt more stressed than ever about school work,” she said.

Briscoe said that she feels less productive now and also feels that she doesn't get a break until around lunch and has nothing to look forward to in between classes. She finds that she doesn't have time to have anyone help with work or have an effective time schedule for school at all.

“I feel like I would be more productive if I had that to look forward to so my friends could help with school work and I'm not stressing about it as much,” she said. 

Agreeing with many teachers' statements, Elizabeth Gilbert, SHS junior, said SRT was extremely beneficial for students that were absent so they could make up tests or quizzes. 

Gilbert also said that she would often make up French quizzes during SRT, which benefited her grade quite a bit. She also noticed that she dropped a large amount of productivity due to losing the ability to have time to study or work on class work.

“I have found I have been rushing work so much more than before because I no longer have that extra time,” she said.

Gilbert feels as if she can’t put her best foot forward because of SRT being removed. She said even though it was a 20-minute period in which many students would use inappropriately, she feels that there could have been something implemented to allow students to have some form of a break during the school day. 

“I feel that we are at school for so long, and we already have such a uniform schedule, there could have been something done to help students that truly needed that extra 20 minutes.”

By: Madelyn Moore 

Senior students at Salem High School have the opportunity to learn new skills and experiment with their future jobs. Weston Smith jumped at the opportunity to surround himself with music every day.

Smith began interning at Mac’s Music and Art two weeks ago. During this time, he has had the opportunity to learn how to clean guitars, discover more about the instrument and better understand how businesses work. 

“My favorite part is when I get to clean a really dirty guitar,” he said. 

Senior Counselor Jennifer Martin said students intern through signing up for the class. They receive high school credit for completing the internship. Students have to submit a resume and other paperwork before beginning. 

Each month internees have a paper they submit and at the end of the semester they have a five-page reflection paper they are required to write and turn in. Interns must have a C average or higher and good attendance to continue interning. 

“Students need transportation if they intern away from the school or hospital,” said Martin. Walking to the hospital, elementary or middle school is reasonable. 

She added through interning, students take a closer look at what their future career may look like. Students are given opportunities to work in “the real world.”

Some interns have been able to attend surgeries and medical procedures or work closely with classroom teachers and small groups of students on assignments. Students have sometimes found their internship opportunities turn into a part time job. 

“I feel internships are important because it is an up close and personal look at what a future career holds,” said Martin, adding that she, herself, was an intern and cadet teacher her senior year. Martin knew that she wanted to teach, but interning confirmed that she wanted to teach middle school or high school. 

Senior Jacob Miller spends his internship in the STEAM lab at Salem Middle School. “Interning is the perfect way to end my day on a good note!”

Good Day Reader,

       For this week, students were asked about their opinions on gun control throughout the United States of America.

       There has been an eight percent increase in gun shootings since 2020, but there has also been an increase in gun restrictions to citizens in over nine states to compensate.

       Because of these changes to the laws, some believe that in the future there could be tighter restrictions, but how helpful will those restrictions be in limiting the amount of shootings? 

       Freshman Vance Tefft said that “guns are only bad if the gun is in the hands of someone bad. If the gun is in the hands of someone trusted and sane, then it isn't bad.” He insists that guns should be closely monitored and regulated, but not made illegal. “We have the right to bear arms according to the Constitution of the United States,” Tefft stated simply, “though, I believe that there should always be regulations on that right to keep peace.”

       Freshman Gavin Hunt said that people tend to believe that guns can kill, hurt, and give people opportunities to hurt others, but he argues that “guns aren't bad if you don't use them for terrible things. Guns are good for many other things.”

       Sophomore Trinity Richardson said that most people use school shootings and murders as examples of why guns are bad. “To some degree, I think guns can be used to protect us,” she stated, “but I think they can also be bad.”

       The places that have the most gun violence are in big cities, such as Miami, New York, Chicago, L.A, and Indianapolis. But why is there so much violence in those areas?

        Tefft thinks that gangs are the primary cause of gun violence. “Gangs are a primary cause because gangs typically don't get along hardly at all,” Tefft explained, “they also have plenty of 'targets' in the areas that they are in.” His solution to this problem is to mandate who can own a gun. “People tend to resort to anger and violence as an answer because they can never get along,” Tefft illustrated, “gangs and irresponsible people are also part of the issue.” His solution is to “pass laws revolving around: Age (recommend 25), mental state (illnesses or disabilities), background (criminal history etc.) and proven to be trusted fully (through training or something of the like)” that limits the amount of untrustworthy people owning a gun.

       Hunt believes that the reason for violence is because “some kids get bullied and they can't take that amount of people saying things about them. Or there are just insane people that like doing horrible things.” His solution to this problem is to keep guns away from criminals and people with mental issues. “You should have to be able to have guns taken away or not given to you if you don't pass a sanity test,” Hunt said, “also if you have a record of breaking the law.”

       Richardson believes that gangs could be a reason for the violence. “Typically, gun violence is an issue because of gangs and immature people,” she said, “or, sometimes, even parents not being responsible. I think anyone over the age of 21 who has a deep background check should be able to own guns, but I know it sometimes doesn’t work out that well”

      Tefft believes that “there should be control on guns but not laws making it illegal. We should all still follow the Second Amendment, but we need to reinforce that with rules. We can't give the right to someone if they have a criminal history or mental illness diagnosis'. People can bear arms, but they must be regulated.” If the government ever decides to take away that right, Tefft thinks that it “would cause people to revolt against the government, and maybe spark a civil war. Guns symbolize protection and trustworthiness, any other view I see as arrogance, fear, or pride.”

       Hunt thinks people should be able to own a gun for self defense. “If someone breaks into your house,” he argues, “how are you supposed to protect yourselves if they already have a gun? You won't be able to do some kung fu stuff to beat that person up! You have the right as a human being in the state of America to bear arms.” When asked what guns symbolize, Hunt said that “it can really mean anything, because whatever people do with guns either good or bad, people are going to see it as that.”

      Richardson exclaimed that “guns should NEVER be made illegal. Without guns, how much protection do we really have? I think we need to enforce the second amendment more. I feel like we should be able to have the right to protect ourselves.”

• ANNA LANGE, SHS Student Journalist