After an increase in complaints issued by nearby businesses and homeowners, the administration made announcements reminding students to be mindful of how their behavior affects the surrounding community, principal Greg Giglio said. The announcements were made on Sept. 22, 25 and 29 through school-wide emails. 

Complaints from neighbors are routine, and typically involve issues such as loud or unsafe driving, students smoking, cars blocking access to driveways, student gatherings on private property and littering, Giglio said. However, Giglio said he received a more noticeable amount of complaints, approximately three phone calls from Sept. 24 to Oct 11, from various concerned neighbors. 

Other than through school-wide announcements, administration tries to deal with incidents of bad behavior by having one-on-one talks with offenders and explaining the possible consequences of their actions, Giglio said.

“Our hope is not to go and bust kids,” Giglio said. “It's really trying to have conversations and letting folks understand that [they are] a part of this neighborhood. So treat it respectfully and let people who live here have their respect too.”

From a survey of 156 responses conducted by The Epitaph, 41% of the student body thought that neighbor disturbance was a problem, but out of those people, only 20% thought it was serious.

Freshman Naveen Badrinath said that although he thinks students should try to behave better, he does not think student misconduct is a big problem. 

“I feel like you’d expect a lot of tomfoolery,” Badrinath said. “But I do believe that we should try our best to be respectful towards [the neighbors].”

Similarly, senior Krishna Mishra, who lives in the apartments close to campus, said that students and various school events do not bother her and she has learned to tune them out.

However, junior Nathan Cadelina, who lives near the Shoppes at Homestead stripmall on Hollenbeck avenue, said he is disappointed with the irresponsible driving habits of those coming and going to school during student drop-off.

“That kind of bums me out because for the people that actually live [near school] and are trying to get to work, it's hard to get through the traffic in the morning,” Cadelina said. 

Both student and parent drivers are part of the problem, junior Lana Kataeva said, who lives nearby to the 7-11 on Homestead road.

“Student drivers are not the safest drivers, so I can hear all of the honking and loud engines revving every time I leave the house, there's always parents dropping off [their] kids [in] my neighborhood,” Kataeva said. “Sometimes when my mom gets home from work earlier in the afternoon, she can't find parking.”

Students also hang out on her driveway, which is intrusive, Kataeva said. 

“This isn't school, this is private property,” Kataeva said. “It just feels weird to me to be going home and then seeing people chilling right outside my house.”

Moreover, students can be inconsiderate of their surroundings and often leave messes for the neighbors to clean up, most frequently discarding their garbage on lawns, Kataeva said.

Giglio said he wants students to remember that misconduct is not justified simply because of a business or home’s close proximity to campus, especially since the school receives plenty of support from the local community.

“A lot of times, neighbors around us will call us when something bad’s going on, [like] alarms going off or someone who looks like they're doing something on campus they shouldn't be,” Giglio said. “So people do try to look out for the school. We just want to make sure the school looks out for them too.”

Giglio said he hopes this two-way street of support and respect between school and community can be maintained with the recent announcements.

“It's really just a matter of being good neighbors and hoping that people do that. And sometimes, we just need reminders, right?” Giglio said. “Our hope is that with our announcements and reminders, kids will do the right thing.”