Oriole Code to provide principles for the student body to follow

Senior Brianna Knight-Fischer, like several of her other classmates in the room with her, could not remember an instance where they participated in creating classroom rules since the time they were in elementary school.

Yet Knight-Fischer said she believes it is still extremely important, just as it was in her kindergarten days, to complete the school population’s list of guidelines for students to follow. She said she feels teens deserve a voice regarding the educational atmosphere they learn in.

“It’s important for students to have more input as opposed to teachers or staff imposing (rules) on you,” Knight-Fischer said.

Students who were chosen and identified by staff members as leaders in the classroom gathered to create a set of guiding principles called the Oriole Code for the student body to follow during a day-long forum Jan. 11 in room C350. The mission of their Oriole Code is to produce a list of rules that would serve as guidelines (after reviewed by the staff), in ad- dition to the current school rules.

At the moment, the Oriole Code has been reviewed by the staff and administration and is pending final approval for how it will be released. Staff members hope the guidelines are released to the student body within the next month.

According to Laura Buxton, special education teacher and one of the co-leaders of the Professional Learning Committee in the counseling office, students involved in the process were selected based on their basic respect for their peers, as well as their different backgrounds.

“(The students who were chosen) were meant to represent all aspects of the school, not just typical leaders, but people who would give good opinions,” Buxton said.

Knight-Fischer said she agreed with Buxton that it was important to include students from various backgrounds.

“We really needed to have students who would give different views on issues,” Knight-Fischer said. “Different backgrounds will provide new opinions.”

Buxton also noted the idea for such an initiative came from opportunities provided by the Investing in Innovation grant to visit other schools around the country, sharing ideas on education. She said the staff saw student involvement as a method for positively influencing the school population.

“(We saw) a student-led facilitative process, promoting goals about who we are and who we want to be,” Buxton said. “Our goal is to set the tone and culture at school.”

Sophomore Jacob Mattson, who was not involved with the creation of the Oriole Code, said he still agrees with its importance.

“It definitely is important for the student body to have a say in the environment that we go to school every day in,” Mattson said.

In the end, Knight-Fischer said she simply hopes to create something of importance, something that will make a lasting impression on the school community.

“I hope we can create something that people want to follow, something that we can relate to at least some portion of it,” she said. “I hope it impacts how the student body interacts with one another.”