On Friday October 2, 2015, 27 parents came in to the LHS office to drop off homecoming dance money and other items to students. Over a week, the secretaries in the front office recorded how many parents came in and what they brought. There was an average of 22 parents each day.

Twenty-two people walking into this school, unannounced, each day is a lot of people.

In Summit County, New Jersey ,the Board of Education put a new policy in place to cut down the amount of traffic in the office. For a few years this policy has worked even though some parents and most students dislike the policy.

This policy has the potential to provide many positive outcomes to the schools and should be considered in Frederick County.

Junior Ryan Jongezoon thinks the policy makes sense. He believes it would help with safety issues and “less chance of concealed weapons being brought in.”

From a parent’s point of view, Mrs. Tracey Cassidy, Reading Specialist, has two teens who go to school in Howard County. She thinks the New Jersey policy is flawed, but it could be a positive thing if parents and teachers worked together. “Students over time would be more responsible.”

High school students may not like the idea of not being able to ask their parents to bring anything in, but over a period of time, it can help us prepare for life outside of school. We won’t be able to text or call our parents if we forgot our lunches or note cards for an important presentation.

Considering the number of parents who work a distance from home, only a percentage of students have access to call parents anyway. What about my parents, who work over an hour away? They aren’t likely to be very happy if I text them crying over lunch money.

Oviedo High School, in Oviedo Florida, gives what they call a “grace period” where in the first few weeks of school they accept unplanned drop-offs. Their no drop-off policy has been in place for six years. They did not like the way the office looked like a locker room; it was constantly full of sports equipment and such.

Oviedo High School Officials believes that since teenagers use their phones for everything, that students should place reminders on their phones rather than using them to call mom and dad.

According to the article about this policy the parents and students aren’t mad about it anymore. They have gotten used to it and now they have the responsibility to remind themselves not to forget anything.

Forgetfulness is part of human nature, something children and adults both suffer from. When we forget something, we often beat ourselves up about it.

Lake Mary High School has a policy in place banning all drop-off items</a>. Normally when students forget their homework, sports equipment, lunches, etc., calling or texting their parents and asking them to bring these items is a piece of cake.

Lake Mary High School has asked students and parents to “Please plan accordingly.”

The policy left numerous parents and students in shock. The intention of this regulation is to teach students responsibility and limit the amount of traffic coming in and out of school.

While this policy does have its pros, there are still many cons.

In any case, parents should have access to their students throughout the school day.

Knowing that a parent is there for you and able to drop-off items in an emergency can take much of the stressful pressure off. If a certain parent is constantly bringing his/her child homework assignments, the frequent offender can be dealt with separately.

Assistant principal Mr. Andrew McWilliams, said,”If a parent needs to bring something for a child, that’s within the parent’s right.”

Mr. McWilliams said that even though responsibility is important for being successful, it is not part of the curriculum. Responsibility should be enforced by parents. Parents can decide when bringing forgotten items is appropriate.

Should the school expect so much of students? We often stay up late completing hours of homework assignments, and wake up before 7:30 every morning. School personnel should be more understanding.

Elizabeth McWilliams, a junior, argues that this policy is unfair because “…they (the school system) make us get up so early. It’s not fair to expect us to be completely put together and have everything because we are tired from late nights of practice, homework and performances.”

Students with separated or divorced parents should not be held responsible for leaving an item behind. They could have half of their possessions at one parent’s house and keep the remainder of their belongings at the other parent’s house. This situation has become pretty common. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about half of all marriages end in divorce.

English teacher and LHS parent Damon Norko strongly disagrees with establishing this rule. He believes that the policy is too extreme. He also believes we should go about the problem “case by case.”

Parents of students with identified special needs might have a hard time adjusting to this rule. For example, if a boy with contacts runs out of eye drops and cannot concentrate on schoolwork, he would not have the freedom to ask a parent to drop off a new bottle. Also, if a girl with a memory disorder regularly forgets her homework, she would not be able to ask a parent to drop off her assignments.

Norko believes the school should be lenient towards those with limitations; however, other students might claim this is unfair.